Nothing's Like Before
by Fairy Godmoose
Summary: What if Kingdom Hearts was real? What if all your favorite movies and TV shows were real, too? And most importantly, what if each and every one of them was in danger of a Heartless attack? Current world: Traverse Town
1. Prologue

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there laid a magnificent kingdom called Lacheipsatis. Its king and its queen were highly devoted to their people, and always did their best to ensure their happiness. It was easy for these two benevolent rulers to dispense aid, since they had been blessed with magical powers. If a famine was to strike the kingdom, the king would make the plants bloom again. If a jealous neighboring kingdom sent its soldiers to destroy Lacheipsatis, the king would send fire, ice, and lightning to push the intruders away. The queen could warn her people if any of these things were to happen, because she often dreamt of the future. The majority of her dreams were rather mundane, such as what the weather would be like tomorrow, or where she'd find that bracelet she'd misplaced a week ago. However, sometimes she would dream about an earthquake or a siege, and she would warn her husband so that he could cushion the blow of the danger, or even prevent it. With the king and the queen using their powers together, Lacheipsatis flourished.

One fateful night, the queen dreamt a terrifying dream. She saw countless worlds with beautiful surroundings, exotic creatures, and wonderful inventions that she could never have imagined. As she was marveling over these new worlds, she began to see small, black, ominous monsters appear throughout them. They terrorized all the people in these worlds, and when the people fell, they turned into new copies of these dark monsters. More and more of them popped up, but they became larger, more frightening, and more destructive. The queen could not bear these images anymore, and forced herself to wake up.

The queen told the king all that she had dreamt. The king was shocked by what he was hearing, but he knew better than to assure his wife that she had only experienced a nightmare. He wanted to prevent these monsters from ever harming anyone, but had no idea how to go about doing this. He decided that he would not trouble any of his subjects' minds with these premonitions, and would not make a move until the queen had any subsequent dreams that could tell him what needed to be done.

Sure enough, the queen had a similar dream the following night. She continued to see worlds being swallowed by the darkness, but this time she saw a flash of light engulf one of the worlds, and the monsters disappeared. The light had come from a massive, shimmering key, wielded by a young boy. He was accompanied by a few others, but it was clear that he was the one responsible for permanently expelling the monsters. The queen informed the king of this development, and the king was relieved to know that there was a way to destroy these monsters, but he still didn't know how to find the boy. The king decided that he would send emissaries to foreign worlds in search of this key, and by extension, the boy.

While the king waited expectantly to hear back from his men, the queen continued to have premonitions. These new ones were not as frightening, though, because they depicted worlds in which some brave individuals were actually managing to keep the monsters at bay. Each night, she dreamt about a new world, and new people in them. She would see how these people lived before the monsters came, how they attempted to deal with them once they arrived, and if they were lucky, what happened when the boy with the key came. These stories were not just informative, but entertaining, and so the queen began writing them down.

The king's emissaries returned to Lacheipsatis after several long months, but none of them could find the key. They did, however, have many fascinating tales to tell their rulers. One emissary told of a faraway land where people had recently developed an ingenious method to tell stories. The stories were acted out, as they were sometimes in Lachiepsatis, but they were then recorded with a peculiar machine, and could be played back whenever people desired them. The only setback was that these machines could not record sounds, and that the pictures could only be shown in black and white. The queen remarked that in some of the worlds she had dreamt about, she had heard of these machines, but that they could play sounds and show colored pictures, and sometimes the pictures would seem to pop off the screens they were shown on.

Suddenly, the queen hatched a brilliant idea. When she had seen the boy and his companions in her dreams, she had noticed that when they were thrust into some of the strangest situations, some of the fighters did not seem too surprised. She had always assumed that the heroes had merely seen too many peculiar things to be perturbed, but it occurred to her that maybe the heroes had seen those specific scenarios before. The queen suggested that she give the dreams she had written about to the emissaries and send them back to the world with the storytelling machines to tell people about the dreams. The denizens of this world who were responsible for creating these recordable stories would hopefully take the dreams and tell them to the rest of the world. That way, the boy with the key would hear about what he was to face, and prepare himself.

There was still one problem; what if the boy was not from that world? One of the royal advisors promised that when the queen's premonitions told her that all she had dreamt was about to happen, he would personally voyage to the world with the storytelling machines, find someone who had been exposed to the stories and had a strong heart, and direct him or her to the boy with the key. The king sanctioned this endeavor, and sent his emissaries back to the world with the storytelling machines. The queen began dreaming about new worlds and new situations with less and less frequency, but whenever she did, the king would send his emissaries back to deliver the stories.

The emissaries tried to form alliances with the people who created the recorded stories, which were called "movies", but they were having enough trouble adjusting to the new world, which was called "Earth". After years had passed, some of the emissaries had managed to befriend some moviemakers who were enthralled by the stories they told, and were all too happy to turn these stories into movies.

Although the emissaries tried to spread the dreams amongst many different groups of people in many different countries, they became particularly fond of one man, and tended to visit him often. This man had built up a movie production studio in a large city called "Los Angeles". He liked making movies that were comprised of many drawings that looked like they were moving, which were called "cartoons". He had been working on a cartoon series about a character that his partner had created, a rabbit who acted like a human, but the man and the company that owned his studio had a fight, so the man wasn't allowed to draw stories about the rabbit anymore, and he needed a new character. Some of the emissaries from Lacheipsatis took pity on him and gave him one of their most important stories. It was about a king who, like the man's previous character, was an animal who acted like a human. However, while the previous character was a rabbit, this king was a mouse.

The man was extremely grateful, and decided to use the mouse, but he decided that he would make him average instead of a king. He also used the mouse's friends, a duck and a dog, and his queen, another mouse. These characters became extremely popular, and the studio became famous. As time went on, the man used more and more stories that the emissaries gave him. Even after his death, his studio continued to be extremely popular, and although the people who worked there invented many stories of their own, they still used some of the queen of Lacheipsatis' premonitions.

The queen continued to have dreams about other worlds until she was very old. Her last dream told her that it was time for her advisor to go to Earth and put some final plans into motion. When she awoke, she told the king and the advisor about what she had dreamt. She told her advisor to pull some strings, and have two of the major companies that were given her stories join forces to ensure that the person they were looking for would be prepared. One of the companies was the one that had been started by the man in Los Angeles many years ago, and the other was a slightly newer company that had been founded on the other side of Earth, in a country called "Japan". This latter company didn't make movies; instead, it made interactive stories called "video games". The queen suggested that these two companies combine their stories with the most crucial premonitions, which she had refused to send to Earth until now, and create one of these video games, hoping that the person the advisor was supposed to find would play this game.

The queen also described the person she had seen, so that if would be easier for the advisor to find him or her. The advisor was surprised to learn that he person he was looking for was only a young girl. He protested this turn of events, but the queen mollified him by pointing out that the hero of her dreams was only a young boy. The queen's dream also said that the girl had not even been born yet, so the advisor's only job at the moment was to get the two companies on Earth to make the video game; preparations for it could take years and years. As time went on and the girl grew older, the advisor would then go to find her.

The advisor was very old, and might not have had enough time to spend years making preparations on Earth, so the queen used the remainder of her power to extend her advisor's lifespan. She passed away less than an hour afterward, and the kingdom of Lacheipsatis mourned, but those who lived there were happy to know that their queen had passed away in her sleep, a death that they saw as fitting for her.

The advisor dutifully went to Earth, and set his late queen's plans into motion. The two companies, still thankful for the stories that Lacheipsatis had given them for ages but unknowing of their significance, worked to create the video game. In order for it to give out the most information to the girl sought by the advisor, it was envisioned as a series of games, instead of just one. After several more years, the first game was released, and the advisor located the girl. He did not tell her of her destiny, not wanting to worry either her or her family, but did prepare her by giving her a copy of the game.

The game was called Kingdom Hearts.

… … … … … … … … …

Hai thar and welcome to Nothing's Like Before. Some of you may have just stumbled upon this story, and if so, thanks for not just stumbling over it. To avoid confusion, I should mention to all of you that this story is a rewrite of a series called The Cheat Code. I originally wrote The Cheat Code between 4 and 5 years ago, and wrote 2 sequels as well, but many parts of the story began to irritate me, so I decided to write it all over again. Don't worry, you can read Nothing's Like Before without having read The Cheat Code. This is a total clean slate.

If you're here because you were a fan of The Cheat Code, thanks for sticking with me. Sorry if the title change caused any confusion, but I wanted to differentiate the series, and as you may have noticed, there's no cheat code anymore. I picked Nothing's Like Before because it kinda fits with the story's theme, and it's a line from "Simple and Clean". Tee-hee. You guys shouldn't worry either; this story will still have most of the same characters and the same nerdy humor. It's just got better worlds and better writing now.

Unfortunately, NLB won't be updated very frequently. I'm crazy busy with schoolwork, and this prologue alone took me about 3 hours to write. I'll try to do a new chapter every other month, maybe once a month if we're all real lucky, but I can't promise anything faster than that. Sorry. But I plan to make the waits worth it. Thanks again for reading, and I hope you keep reading. FG out, yo!


	2. A Shaky Start

"_When you walk away, you don't hear me say 'Please, oh baby, don't go'_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go"_

Four teenagers laid sprawled around a basement, strewn about like the various snack wrappers that dotted the plush carpeting. "Simple and Clean" could faintly be heard from a nearby set of speakers. "You're giiiiiving meeeeeeeeee too maaaaany thiiiiiiiiiings lately," a boy warbled along, his voice partially muffled by the floor. "You're aaaaaaaaaallllllllll I neeeee—" He was cut off by a handful of popcorn, which had flown across the room and hit him in the face. He propped himself up, quickly ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair to expel the kernels that had become caught in it, and glared at the girl who had thrown it. "Hey, don't be hating on my mad singing skills."

"You sound like a dying whale, Lionel," the girl scoffed. "Put your so-called skills away." Lionel opened his mouth to protest, but the girl reached into the popcorn bag that sat beside her on the couch and gave him a threatening look. "I mean it. Leave the singing to Utada Hikaru, or I'll make you smell like butter for the next month."

"_You're giving me too many things lately_

_You're all I need, you smiled at me and said…"_

"Don't listen to her, Lionel, you sound beautiful." The girl who sat next to him gave his shoulder a consoling pat.

Lionel shifted his body a bit to look at her. "Really?" he asked eagerly.

"Well…no, not really. But Callie was a little harsh."

Callie leaned back and crossed her arms. "If your dog takes a crap on your carpet, you don't give him a biscuit. You beat him with a newspaper."

A boy leaning against the wall started laughing. "Wow. I'm really glad you don't actually own a dog."

"Tough love is good for shaping behavior," Callie justified. "You need put your foot down enough, you get stomped all over. You don't get to pick what you're having for lunch, you end up carrying everyone's bags, and you have to listen to Lionel sing."

"'_Don't get me wrong, I love you, but does that mean I have to meet your father?'_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_What I meant when I said 'No, I don't think life is quite that simple'"_

"I don't think that's true. Emma doesn't get stomped all over!" the boy by the wall pointed out.

Callie rolled her eyes. "Paul, last time we all went shopping together, you made Emma buy you 3 pairs of skinny jeans," she reminded him, gesturing to the girl sitting next to Lionel.

Paul shifted uncomfortably and mumbled "I said I'd pay her back."

"Yeah, more than a month ago!" Callie exclaimed.

"It's cool," Emma assured him. "For now, at least. You can pay me back when you get a new job. After that, though, I'm sending a repo man after you."

"To repossess my money, or my organs?"

"Both, just to teach you a lesson."

"Doesn't that seem like overkill?"

"No, I think it's just enough kill."

"Can I at least have a last request?"

"Yes, the repo man will sing 'Thankless Job' for you first."

"That's all I ask."

"_When you walk away, you don't hear me say 'Please, oh baby, don't go'_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go"_

"Whoa, wait! What do you mean, new job?" Lionel interrupted. "Please don't tell me Paul got fired again!"

"Apparently Sbarro has an anti-fraternization policy," Paul muttered, his eyes darting around to avoid Lionel's judgmental stare.

"Supply closet?" Callie clarified.

Paul scrunched up his shoulders awkwardly. "Supply closet," he confirmed.

"Oh Paul, you dog. You pitiful, unemployed dog," Callie snickered.

"See, this is what happens with too much tough love," Paul grumbled. "If you shower your kids with too much of it, you get jerks like Callie."

"Naming your kid Caliban probably doesn't help either," Emma chuckled.

This time, Callie threw some popcorn at Emma. "It's not my fault my mom's a Shakespeare nerd!"

"And apparently gender-confused, since Caliban's a guy," Lionel said with a smirk.

"She thought it was a cool name, okay? She's a good-for-nothing freak!"

Paul stroked his chin. "I wouldn't say good-for-nothing."

"Shut up, Paul."

"I'm serious, your mom's a total MILF!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Yeah, her mom's not that attractive," Lionel agreed.

"Thank you, someone else with some common sense."

"Her dad, on the other hand, is drop-dead sexy. I would tap that in a heartbeat."

"OH MY GOD LIONEL SHUT UP."

"_The daily things that keep us all busy are confusing me_

_That's when you came to me and said…"_

A tall, thin woman walked down the basement stairs. "Emma, honey, your guests should be leaving soon!"

"But they've only been here for a few hours!" Emma complained.

"Your summer vacation may have just started, but some people still have work to do. There's a big meeting at the bank tomorrow, and I need my rest. I can't sleep with you and your friends screaming your lungs out."

Emma frowned and turned back to the others. "I guess that's it for tonight, guys."

Lionel pushed himself onto his knees, then threw his arms melodramatically around Emma, mock-wailing "I'm gonna miss you!"

"I still can't believe you're not coming on the Madrid exchange with us." Callie rose from the couch and walked over to the others. "You're gonna miss out on all our touristy antics, just because you didn't feel like taking Spanish."

Emma sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's just that I find Japanese more interesting."

"You're such a weeaboo."

"Hey, you watch anime too!"

"Yes, but I'm not taking Japanese!"

"That doesn't make me a weeaboo!"

"At least you've got some stuff to keep you occupied, right?" Paul asked, looking slightly concerned. "I mean, you're not going to get cabin fever, are you?"

"I'll probably be cooped up, but at least I'll have 358/2 Days to play. It looks interesting," Emma said with a shrug. "I mean, it's only in Japanese right now, but hopefully I'll be able to muddle through it."

Callie snorted. "Isn't that the new Kingdom Hearts game?"

"One of them, yeah."

"Weeeeeeeeeeaaaaaboooooooooo…"

"'_Wish I could prove I love you, but does that mean I have to walk on water?'  
When we are older you'll understand it's enough when I say so,  
And maybe some things are that simple"_

"Do you kids have rides home, or not?" called Emma's mom.

"We're all good, Mrs. Baecker," Paul assured her. "We'll get out of your hair now. C'mon," he said to Lionel and Callie, inclining his head toward the stairs.

"I'm gonna see them out," Emma told her mom as she and her friends started walking up to the first floor.

"That's fine, but make sure you come back down here and clean the floor before you go to bed," Mrs. Baecker said firmly.

"Sure, sure."

"And remember, you'll have to make your own breakfast tomorrow. I'll probably be off to work by the time you wake up."

"Alright."

As they stepped onto the front porch, Paul gave Emma a big hug. "Have a good summer, Emma!" He then started walking down the street.

"Yeah, try not to gorge yourself on Pocky," Callie said with a smirk as she followed Paul.

"Bye bye Emma!" Lionel chirped. "I promise to snog lots of Spanish hunks for you! Mwah!" He gave her a big kiss on the forehead and flounced away.

"_When you walk away, you don't hear me say 'Please, oh baby, don't go'_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go"_

Emma sighed again as she watched her friends depart around the corner of her block. She sat down and aimlessly glanced up at the sky. It was dark but not very cloudy; the moon, full and luminous, could be seen with relative clarity, as well as the stars that glittered around it.

However, as Emma was gazing up, one of the stars started wobbling, as if it was a reflection in a puddle and someone had just walked through it. After a few seconds of this, the star faded and disappeared. Emma squinted, took off her glasses, cleaned them, and put them back on, but the star was still gone.

"Emma!" Mrs. Baecker yelled. "Come back inside!"

"Okay!" Emma called back shakily. She took one last look at the spot where the star had been, then walked back into her house and closed the front door.

"_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before"_

… … …

The next morning, Emma awoke to a cluster of sunbeams hitting her in the face and the unmistakable smell of bacon. She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and ambled down to her kitchen, where she found a slightly chubby old man with a bushy white mustache and a diamond-checkered sweater vest hunched over the stove. "Grandpa Henry? What are you doing here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

The old man turned around and beamed at her. "Good morning, Emma! It's so good to see you!" He gave her a tight bear hug. "We haven't had a chit-chat since Christmas, have we? It's so difficult finding the time to come over here, Chicago and Burbank are so far apart, you know, over 2000 miles! But here I am!"

Despite the acute confusion that had just stricken her, Emma forced out a smile. "Yeah, that's just it. It's great to see you, Grandpa, but why exactly am I seeing you?"

"Here, I made you some breakfast!" Grandpa Henry slopped some scrambled eggs and bacon onto a plate and handed it to Emma. "It's not 4-star restaurant cuisine, but it's the best I could do! And there's some fresh orange juice on the table!"

"Grandpa! Seriously!" Emma exclaimed, putting her plate down on the counter. "Why are you in Chicago?"

Grandpa Henry scurried out of the room for a moment and came back with a large bag that he dumped into Emma's arms. "I also brought you some gifts! I wasn't able to come down here for your birthday, so I thought, 'Hey, better late than never!' I hope everything fits!"

"GRANDPA HEN—"

Before Emma could finish her protests, another man entered the kitchen. He appeared to be in his late 30s, and had long, black hair that had been pulled into a thick braid. He was wearing a tight white T-shirt and blue jeans that would've looked very flattering if he'd had any muscles, but he was as skinny as a stick. "Sorry about him; he's just a little excited."

Emma sputtered for a bit before repeating "A LITTLE excited?" She glanced back at her grandfather, who was still grinning from ear to ear and had starting wringing his hands. "About what?"

"Eh…work-related stuff," the man supplied. "We've been working on a project for a while, and it looks like it's going to pay off soon."

"You work with Grandpa Henry?"

"Yup."

"Grandpa Henry retired three years ago."

The cheerful expression that the man had been wearing since he entered remained on his face even after this revelation, but the brief twitch in his right eye hinted that this was only because he was too startled to do anything else.

"Who exactly are you, if you don't mind me asking?" Emma asked cautiously.

"Huh? Oh! Right, sorry!" The man scurried forward and shook Emma's hand. As he did so, he passed by a ray of sunshine from outside. The quick spotlight revealed that his hair was not actually black but a very dark shade of purple. This, of course, did nothing to ease Emma's confusion. "My name's Vickery. Aldwyndain Vickery." His name didn't help things either.

Emma squinted at him. "Have we met before?"

"Uh…yeah. Few times, yeah. You were really little, like this big." Vickery held up his thumb and index finger, an inch or so apart. "Or, well, no, I guess you were more like…this big," he amended, stretching out his palm and setting it level with his knee. "I think that's right."

"So, what's the real reason for your visit?" Emma asked, turning back to Grandpa Henry.

Vickery waved his hands back and forth. "Really, it's a job-related thing!" he insisted.

"There was a little business that I'd left unfinished when I retired," Grandpa Henry tacked on. "My good buddy Vick here is helping out!"

Emma pursed her lips, then asked, "You worked at Disney. All you did was help produce and distribute movies. I'm not saying that's not an important job, but why couldn't they have sent someone else? Y'know, someone who wasn't retired?"

"Well, when I said 'job-related', I didn't really mean our actual jobs," Vickery said awkwardly.

"Alright, you've totally lost me."

"Did you see that star go out last night?" Grandpa Henry suddenly blurted out.

Absolute silence settled on the kitchen for what seemed like an eternity. "Henry…" Vickery finally said, in a tone that dripped venom, "…what…are you doing?"

"I think we should tell her."

"I THINK SHE'S GOING TO THINK WE'RE LUNATICS!"

"I already do!" Emma interjected.

"See? Why would you bring it up?"

Grandpa Henry stood up as straight as he could. "I have the highest level of authority in this situation, and I say that we tell Emma what's going on. After decades of indirect preparation, we might as well give her a little straightforward info."

"But I…we…she didn't…why…I was the…fine!" Vickery threw his arms up in the air. "Go ahead! Tell her! It couldn't make this situation any worse!"

Emma's eyes darted nervously between Grandpa Henry and Vickery. "What's going on here?"

"Kingdom Hearts is real," Grandpa Henry declared matter-of-factly.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Vickery shouted.

"You said you were fine with being straightforward."

"YEAH, STRAIGHTFORWARD AND TACTFUL! YOU DON'T JUST SAY THAT KIND OF SHIT, MAN, YOU EASE INTO IT!"

"Does someone want to run this by me more coherently?" Emma asked, grabbing a stool and perching on it. "Or, I dunno, more convincingly?"

Vickery took a deep breath, then said, "I'm taking over from here, okay?"

Grandpa Henry frowned. "I'd rather do it myself."

Vickery glared at him. "That wasn't a question, Baecker. You've already made a mess of things." It was Grandpa Henry's turn to deferentially raise his hands. "Thank you. Now." Vickery focused his attention back on Emma. "What would you do if I told you that there really are a bazillion other worlds besides this one, just like in Kingdom Hearts?"

"What, like other planets?"

"Yeah, like that. But there are also other dimensions. Y'know how in Kingdom Hearts there was that Mulan world, which was supposed to be China, but then there was the Lion King world, which was supposed to be somewhere around the Sahara? Those are both parts of Earth, but they were on different worlds. They were both Earth, but they were different Earths."

"So you're saying that there's a bazillion alternate dimensions."

"Yeah. Do you believe me?"

"It seems sketchy, especially what with the lack of proof, but I can't prove it's not true either, can I?"

"Right. Good. Way to be reasonable, you'll need to keep it up."

"Okay."

"Around a century ago, in one of the other worlds, there was this kingdom called Lacheipsatis. Its queen had magical powers, and could see the future. I know the sketchiness is piling on right now, but bear with me. She saw that a bunch of worlds were going to be attacked big-time by these monsters, but she also saw that this kid was going to beat them up and make sure they never came back."

"Considering Grandpa Henry's statement earlier, I'm assuming these monsters are Heartless and this kid is Sora."

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Do you still believe me?"

"By this point I'm just playing along, to be honest. But by all means, continue your story."

"The queen decided that Sora would do better if he had some clue as to what was coming. This would be real life, so he couldn't just go back to the last time he saved the game if he messed up. So she had some guys come to this world and arrange for the things she saw in her visions to become movies. That way, some kid would see them and know what to do, and be able to give Sora some pointers. You got that so far?"

"I think. So where do you guys enter into this?"

"We're from Lacheipsatis. Henry's been on Earth for several decades, getting Disney to make some movies out of the queen's visions. I've been doing the same thing, just for a shorter time. I also worked on Kingdom Hearts."

"That must have been fun."

"I was just a consultant. I don't know anything about video game programming."

"Ah, well."

"Anyway, Henry and I came to Chicago to find the kid who's supposed to help Sora. The plot is starting soon, and the Heartless have already gotten to some worlds. We're supposed to find the kid, and send her to Destiny Islands to meet up with Sora and those guys."

"Well, good luck with that."

"We don't need luck. We've already found her, and she's sitting in front of me."

Emma stared hard at Vickery. She opened her mouth, closed it, shifted on her stool, opened her mouth again, went "Ehhhhh…", and then closed her mouth again.

"You can't just play along anymore, Emma," Vickery told her sternly. "You have to give me a concrete answer this time. Do you believe me, or not?"

"This story is getting really weird," Emma managed to say.

"But do you believe it?"

"Seeing is believing."

Vickery squirmed a little. "It's not a good idea. Somebody could be looking through the window and see something."

"I'm not going anywhere until you can prove there's a shred of truth in everything you've been throwing at me. Otherwise, I might as well be climbing into a van and getting chloroformed. I don't care if my own grandfather's involved, this is the kind of stuff you see on the news."

"Do it, Vick," Henry said, crossing his arms. "I know the rules, but it's not worth ruining a century of planning to make sure that some civilian doesn't have a heart attack."

Vickery ran around the first floor of the Baecker residence, closing all the windows and blinds, then returned to the center of the kitchen. "What should I do, Mr. Highest Level of Authority?"

"Anything you want, Mr. Smartass."

A pool of light appeared around Vickery's feet, and bright tendrils reached up around him until they completely covered him. When the light faded, he was gone. Emma's mouth hung open dumbly as she pointed at the spot where he had been. "How…how did he do that?!" She exclaimed.

"Easy. I know magic," echoed Vickery's disembodied voice. Another pool of light appeared at the other end of the kitchen. A glowing silhouette of a man came into view. The bright tendrils then retreated back into the pool to reveal Vickery. "Was that cool or what?"

Emma did find the demonstration to be very cool, and under other circumstances she would have told him so, but she was too busy fainting.

… … …

"…and it's supposed to be really nice, but it's so hot this time of year." As Emma woke up for the second time that day, she was not greeted by sunshine or by bacon, but by a dim fluorescent light and a tinny voice coming out of an intercom. "All that pretty blue water, all those gorgeous trees…it's gotta be a hot vacation spot."

Emma sat up and rubbed her eyes, which were trying desperately to adjust themselves to their surroundings. Her ears, meanwhile, were functioning perfectly, and recognized the voice over the intercom as Grandpa Henry. "Yeah, but we can't stick around," another voice that must have been Vickery's reminded him. "We've got to let Emma off, then head right back to Lacheipsatis. You've been gone for a while, and we need your help. There aren't any Heartless yet, but they could attack any minute, and we'll need to train everyone until they're at least somewhat competent."

"Good idea. We may not be able to stop the Heartless ourselves, but we can at least get them to back off for a while."

Emma wobbled to her feet and moved toward the intercom. There was a small, round button under the speaker, which she pressed. "Grandpa Henry?" she asked hesitantly, then took her finger off the button.

"Emma! Good morning again!" Grandpa Henry said happily. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah…where exactly am I?"

"Vickery's ship, the Anasolema," Grandpa Henry declared.

"Or as I sometimes like to call it, the TARDISENT," Vickery added. "It stands for 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space, Except Not Time'. Do you like it?"

As angry and confused as Emma was, she had some trouble suppressing a laugh at the Doctor Who reference. After momentarily going over the men's words in her head, her eyes shot wide open. "Hang on! When you say ship, do you mean Gummi ship?"

"Uh…yeah. Sorry about that, we're on a tight schedule, so we figured we'd just start going to Destiny Islands."

"And you did this without asking me if I wanted to go?"

"We need you to help Sora," Grandpa Henry told her. "If you don't, all the worlds in existence might just be sucked up by the Heartless."

"Look, maybe we should be discussing this face-to-face," Emma snapped.

"You're right. We're sorry. We just thought you'd rather be unconscious on a cot than on the floor," mumbled Vickery. "Just open the door, go down to the end of the hallway, and take the elevator all the way up."

"Fine. I'm going." Emma walked over to the horizontal line of light that must have been the edge of the room's door. She reached out her hand to feel around for a doorknob, but it slid open by itself. The hallway was a sleek, metallic navy blue. There was a large sign at the opposite end, but it was written in characters that certainly weren't part of any Earth language. She swallowed down her hesitation and followed it. As she approached the wall that the sign was hung on, another door slid open, revealing the elevator. To Emma's dismay, the elevator was not automatic, and so she had to scour the panel of buttons, none of which had anything in English, neither words nor numbers. Thankfully, she notice that the highest button, while covered with squiggles, had a Post-It note next to it reading "It's this one, by the way," and so she pressed it.

The elevator brought her to another navy blue metallic room. This one, however, had rows of benches on either side, as well as two swivel chairs in the front. Most importantly, there was a long window in the front. Outside, there were plenty of large rocks, opaque and colorful clouds of matter, and tiny stars off in the distance. "So…this is Gummi space?" Emma murmured, stepping closer to get a better look.

"Yeah, so to speak," Grandpa Henry replied, not turning around because he was too busy steering around the rocks.

"It's pretty."

"Isn't it? Ah, here we are." Grandpa Henry brought the Anasolema to a stop by a large, green and blue world that was very reminiscent of Earth, aside from the continents being different sizes and in a different arrangement. "This is the world where the Destiny Islands are. Are you ready to go?"

"What? You're not giving me weapons? Or…or magic? Or anything?"

"You'll get that whenever fate decides to give you one."

"Is that just a really mumbo-jumbo-y, mysterious way of saying that you were too cheap to find me any?"

"All you need to do right now is find Sora," Vickery told her. "We've figured out exactly where he is, so we can have you disembark there."

Emma wrung her hands a bit. "What about my mom? What am I going to tell her?"

"Don't worry, once you find Donald and Goofy, you can use their ship to go back home. Your mom works a lot, right? Just make sure you're only playing while she's at work, and she doesn't have to know anything's up."

"Couldn't you guys have told me this over a long period of time, rather than giving me a 5-minute explanation and dumping me on another world?" Emma looked down and frowned. "In my PAJAMAS?"

"Look, I know this is all a little crazy. I don't think we've really had the time to plan all this out too well," Vickery explained.

"I thought you said your queen had been planning this for a century!"

"We've had other stuff on our plates! Just disembark, okay? Tell everyone you just washed up on the beach and need some help, get chummy with Sora, go with him to Traverse Town, find Donald and Goofy, and go have wacky adventures."

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it."

"I know, I know, I'm a right bastard, just hurry!"

"HOW? I haven't got a clue how to work this thing!"

"Go to the terminal over there, step on the circular groove on the ground, and press the big shiny button marked 'Disembark'. The coordinates are already set. We probably won't meet up with you again for a while, but we'll find you when we can."

Emma sighed and went to the middle of the circle. "I'm so going to hit you guys next time I see you. I think the rule about respecting elders can be skipped over when they kidnap you and shove you on a magical ship to go fight monsters."

"Love you too," Vickery sarcastically retorted. "Now go!"

Emma grimaced and hit the button. The circle began glowing green, and little green tendrils sprouted up around the perimeter; it looked just like a save point. There was a flash of light, and Emma was gone.

… … …

When Emma reappeared, she was standing on a mound of whitish sand, but she promptly fell over and clutched her stomach. "Agh…all those sci-fi movies were right…teleporting can make you really nauseous." After making sure that she wouldn't vomit all over the nice sand, she got to her feet and looked around. "You're kidding me…" she whispered.

She was standing by the shack on Destiny Islands. The sun beat down, the waves of the ocean lapped against the shore, and the palm trees swayed in the cool wind. It was just the way it had looked in the game, but was all the more beautiful when seen up close.

Suddenly, unintelligible shouts came from behind Emma. She was far too transfixed to turn around, at least until a hard rubber ball hit her in the back of the head. She picked it up, expecting it to be a blitzball, but it was just a plain, red rubber ball. A few teenagers ran up to her. In the front was a boy who looked a couple of years younger than her. His brown hair had been formed into an array of spikes by what must have been enough styling gel to drown a hippo, and he was wearing a crazy, chain-covered assemblage of clothing that was finished off by an unreasonably puffy pair of bright yellow shoes. "S-s-sora!" Emma exclaimed.

Sora gave her a confused look, and said something to her in some strange language. Emma just stared blankly back. Sora turned to the other teenagers with him and spoke to them in the strange language, and they responded similarly. Emma dropped back down to the sand and pounded it in frustration.

She was on the Destiny Islands.

The Destiny Islands were not on Earth.

The Destiny Islands had no connection to Earth.

Therefore, the inhabitants of Destiny Islands had no reason to understand English.

"_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before"_

… … … … … … … …

FG: Well, that was the first real chapter of Nothing's Like Before! I hope you at least thought it was decent. XD Oh, and before you guys say anything, I already know that 358/2 Days is out in America. NLB, however, begins near the end of June 2009, and 358/2 Days wasn't released in America until September 29th. Continuity = a-okay! So yeah. FG out, yo.


	3. Welcome to Destiny Islands

"This is a dream. This is definitely a dream," Emma mumbled to herself, curled up in a fetal position on the sand and rocking herself back and forth. "Real life has never been this cruel to me. I must still be asleep! That's it. That's the only sane option. Video games aren't real. Grandpa doesn't have crazy magician friends. I'm asleep." A few feet away, Sora and his friends stared blankly at the strange, feverish girl. Sora spoke a few melodious-sounding foreign words, but Emma ignored him in favor of her consolatory babbling. "Wait…but this is too vivid to be a dream! And if I were asleep, I could just wake myself up!" She pinched herself, and waited briefly for a result of some sort. When nothing happened, she pinched herself harder. On her third attempt, she added a fingernail puncture to the assault. This didn't help either. "I can't be dreaming, either!" Emma finally admitted with a heavy sigh. "Maybe I'm in a coma! Someone clubbed me in the head, and I'm in a coma! Or maybe there's some sort of tumor involved! But why would my coma put me on the Destiny Islands? Why not Manchester, 1973? Or even better, 80s London! As long as I can meet Gene Hunt! Hey!" She abruptly brought her head up to meet Sora's eyes; he leapt back and flailed in response. "Is there anyone named Gene Hunt on these islands? Geeeeeeeeeene Huuuuuuuuuunt? Do you understand?"

Sora stared at Emma for a few more moments, then turned to his friends. He said some words, paused to glance back at Emma, and then said some more words. Sora's friends each said a few words back and walked away. Sora, on the other hand, took a few steps closer to Emma and crouched by her side. He spoke to her in a soft, reassuring voice. Emma frowned. "I don't understand." Sora spoke again, this time in drawn-out syllables as she had done. "SERIOUSLY, I DON'T KNOW!" she snapped, batting forcefully at Sora's outstretched hand. He quickly withdrew it, but stayed crouched tensely by Emma. Emma sighed again and dropped her head. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "It's not your fault. I've had a really bad day." Although he still couldn't understand her, Sora looked visibly relieved at Emma's much-calmer tone. "Everything went by so fast, and I just…well, it's just now sinking in." She observed her warm, idyllic surroundings again. "I'm on the Destiny Islands. I'm in Kingdom Hearts. This is all real, I have no way out, and I have nothing to say."

The two teenagers sat in silence for a minute, watching the tide roll in. Sora opened his mouth a few times to say something, but closed it again as he continually remembered that any small talk would be pointless. After a while, Emma pointed to her chest and said, "I'm Emma." Sora nodded faintly, still watching the water. Just as Emma had done before, he didn't feel much like responding to words he didn't know. Emma poked his shoulder stiffly and declared, "Sora." Sora whipped his head back toward Emma and raised his eyebrows. Emma pointed to herself again and repeated "Emma." Her index finger moved back and forth between Sora and herself. "Sora. Emma. Sora. Emma."

Judging from the expression of Sora's face, his confusion was still escalating wildly at the fact that some strange foreign girl knew his name, but her crude Tarzan-esque demonstration apparently got the general point across. "Emma," he echoed, pointing back at her.

Emma nodded enthusiastically. "That's right. Emma. Now we're getting somewhere."

Sora stood up and brushed some sand off his bright red shorts. He put his hand on his chin with a pensive expression, then extended his hand toward the small dock that laid a dozen or so yards away. He mimed grabbing some thin object and brought his hands toward the left side of his torso in a sweeping motion. He did it again, this time to the right side.

"Canoe?" Emma guessed. She imitated Sora's gestures, and wiggled her hands around her feet to give the impression of water. Sora nodded. "To there?" she asked, pointing to the much larger island in the distance. Sora nodded. Emma wobbled to her feet and began walking toward the canoes. "I really hope you're good at this. I've never paddled a canoe in my life," she told him, supplementing her statement with more canoe-miming followed by rapidly shaking her head. Sora pointed at himself, paddled, and nodded. "Good. At least we can communicate on a rudimentary level."

Sora sighed. He pointed at Emma, opened his mouth, put his hand by it, and extended it out, then shrugged. "I know you can't understand me," Emma agreed with a nod, "but I'll go crazy if I don't hear SOMEONE speaking, and I've got to keep some tether to reality here." Sora waited expectantly for a series of gestures to translate this sentence, but Emma gave up and just waved her hand dismissively. Sora shrugged again, and he and Emma walked toward the canoe. On the way, they passed Sora's friends, who had gone back to throwing and catching the red ball. Sora waved and called out some words. The friends waved back. Out of politeness, Emma did so too.

Once they reached the canoe, Sora started untying the rope that tethered the canoe to the dock. Emma plopped in and handed Sora a large wooden oar. "Alright, let's go over to the big island to do whatever," she announced. Sora shook his head and pointed to Emma. He picked up another oar and pointed to himself. "What? I just said I can't paddle well!" Emma exclaimed, reiterated the mimes she had used earlier to demonstrate this. Sora also mimed paddling, and pointed back and forth between him and Emma. "No really, this will be epic fail." Sora frowned, so Emma grunted in defeat and kept the oar.

Sora dragged his canoe away from the others to give it space and pushed it roughly before jumping into the spot behind Emma. They both started paddling, but Sora's strokes had much more force in them than Emma's did, and they were timed differently, so their oars kept clunking together. The canoe was still moving forward, though, so no changes were made.

After they had gotten a few feet away from their starting point in an unimpressive length of time, though, Sora finally became fed up and grabbed Emma's oar. He shook his head. "Sorry. I said this would be epic fail," she reminded him. Sora tugged lightly on the oar, so Emma let go, and Sora dropped it beside him with another clunking sound. The canoe started moving at a faster pace as Sora began paddling alone. Emma slumped over; even though she had predicted her inability to adequately row a boat, she felt rather disappointed in herself. Sora took a break from paddling to awkwardly pat Emma's shoulder.

Emma looked around again. After spending her entire life in a city full of skyscrapers, pollution, and general urban sprawl, there was no way she could ever get sick of gazing at all the massive green trees, the crystal-clear water, and the gorgeous blue sky. Kingdom Hearts' graphics were fine for the early 2000s, but they didn't do the real Destiny Islands nearly enough justice. Even if the level had been rendered with absolute realism and could pop out of the screen, there was no way to simulate the smell of fresh plants or the briny tint of the warm breeze.

Just to make things even better, a group of shimmering, colorful fish swam past the canoe, forming a rainbow of scales. "Whoa!" Emma turned her head to watch the fish as they departed, only to find some more fish coming toward them when she faced forward again. "This is so cool! I mean, we've got fish in Lake Michigan, but usually the only time I see them is when they're dead on the beach," she told Sora. Sora stopped rowing to wiggle his fingers at her, but she couldn't be bothered to attempt signing everything she'd said; she was babbling for the sake of babbling, not to strike up an engaging conversation. She slowly moved her hand toward the water to touch one of the beautiful fish. Sora banged loudly on the side of the canoe and shook his head furiously. When it became clear that he had startled Emma into giving him her attention, he held a hand back by his mouth, furrowed his eyebrows, and viciously gnashed his jaws together. Emma's eyes widened, and she hastily drew her hand back into the boat.

Several more minutes passed before Sora and Emma landed on the main island's shore. Sora maneuvered the canoe toward the dock and roped it to one of the posts. "Hey, Sora?" Emma called. Sora turned around, and Emma rapped on the dock with her knuckles; it was larger than the dock on the other island, but it seemed too small to be useful to everyone on the Destiny Islands, considering the size of the mainland. In fact, there were only a few more canoes roped up beside Sora's. Emma conveyed this idea by pointing to the dock and holding her thumb and index finger an inch or two apart. She gestured to the island they had reached and held her hands a foot apart. Sora shrugged. He reused the paddling mime that had become so popular in the last ten minutes and pointed between the main island and the island they had just left. He paddled again and waved his arm toward the horizon, shaking his head. Emma nodded. "That's right…the whole reason you, Riku, and Kairi wanted to see other worlds was because you'd never been off the islands. Well, that and you wanted to find Kairi's real home."

Sora gave her a funny look again. He spoke rapidly, and Emma was able to pick out "Riku" and "Kairi" from the stream of unfamiliar words. Emma flapped her hand dismissively again. Although Sora didn't seem particularly distrustful of Emma, it would take a lot of explaining for her to justify why she knew Sora, Riku, and Kairi's names, and it wasn't the kind of explanation that translated well into hand gestures. "Look, let's just get where we're going, huh? The sooner we get to magic and stuff, the sooner we can find a way to communicate." Emma pointed her hand toward the mainland.

"Riku blah Kairi blah blah blah?" Sora asked. Emma shrugged, refusing to speak or sign anything else on the matter. Sora pursed his lips and began walking toward the white wooden fence that separated the small beach from the main part of the island. Emma shuffled along after him. It basically looked the way it did in Kingdom Hearts II; a wide dirt path wound throughout the peaceful little village. Beyond the village, she could see a more crowded town at the foot of a mountain range. Sora stood on the tips of his toes and pointed toward the town. Emma nodded, and the two started walking toward it.

As beautiful as the smaller island was, the main island made it look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland in comparison. There were luscious trees and bushes everywhere, so many that you could barely see the grass because it was so covered up. Nestled amongst them were flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Emma bent over to smell some small white flowers that resembled pear blossoms. She turned to Sora and made a pinching motion, then drew her fingers upward. Sora nodded, so Emma grabbed a cluster of the flowers and kept walking.

The town looked fairly normal. It contained what appeared to be schools, stores, and offices. Vendors lined the roads, selling snacks and trinkets. It must have been approaching whatever time served as lunchtime on the island, as the vendors were starting to cook vegetables and small scraps of raw meat in front of their customers. The scent caused Emma's gut to start punching itself; with all the craziness that had occurred that morning, she hadn't gotten around to eating the breakfast that Grandpa Henry had so lovingly and erratically prepared. She had more important things to worry about for the time being, so she mentally told her stomach to shut up for a while longer.

Sora stopped in front of an impressive stone building near the center of town. People kept coming in and out, wearing neat, crisp work clothes. Emma was not at all surprised to see that most of these outfits came in bright, hearty colors and were accented by a ridiculous amount of zippers and belts. She chuckled at them, but she stopped when she realized that she was only wearing an oversized white T-shirt, faded blue pajama pants, and dark blue slippers. She was used to mocking the islanders' clothes for being so flamboyant; conversely, the islanders had every reason to mock her for being plain. She grimaced and nervously adjusted her glasses.

Sora took the handle of one of the doors and motioned for Emma to follow him inside. Emma gathered that she had just entered an office building, so she expected to see trampled gray carpets and white fluorescent lights, but she was instead greeted by a floor made of polished stone tiles, the kind you sometimes see at hotels, and a warm, peachy light that emanated from glass mosaic lamps jutting out from the ceiling.

Another flamboyant woman sat at a wooden desk near the far end of the lobby. She wore a silvery long sleeved shirt with ruffles at the collar, sleeves, and down the center and light pink stripes of silk between each ruffle. She wore a hot pink ascot around her neck. Her lower half was out of view, but chances were that it was just as wild. Her hair was platinum blonde and ran down to the middle of her back. The ends were gelled into little spikes. Her eyes were an unnatural beige color. If this woman had been included in the game, Emma was sure that a hundred girls would be cosplaying as her every year. However, this woman wasn't in the game, so she probably wasn't important. This knowledge made her highly-conspicuous getup even funnier to Emma.

The woman and Sora spoke a couple of short sentences to each other that Emma inferred to be the usual pleasantries. Sora said a longer sentence, and the woman gave him a short reply. Sora said a few more words, then walked past the woman's desk to a doorway leading to multiple flights of stairs. Emma hastily followed him up, and tapped on his shoulder. Sora stopped and turned his head. "Wanna give me any idea about what's going on here?" she asked, wiggling her fingers. Sora stared at the floor in thought, but he must have been at a loss for how to explain their destination, because he faced forward again and kept walking.

Once they had traveled up 3 flights of stairs, they were met by another wooden door. Sora knocked on it, and a low man's voice said something within. Sora opened the door, and he and Emma entered. Like the lobby, the room's light was a very warm color. Unlike the lobby, the floor was covered by a dark green carpet with light green leaf patterns and light pink flowers. On top of it was a rich brown wooden desk that was littered with papers and binders. The man who sat behind it had short salt-and-pepper hair, a black mustache, and pale blue eyes that were framed by laughter lines. He wore a navy blue suit over a white dress shirt and a light gray tie.

The soberness of his outfit was a drastic contrast from everyone else Emma had seen on the island, and so Emma was slightly worried about how this encounter would turn out, but when the man noticed Sora and Emma's arrival, he looked up and beamed, which helped to put Emma at ease. Sora and the man exchanged some words, but their tones were enthusiastic and their sentences were fairly lengthy; this greeting wasn't just a series of pleasantries, like Sora's short conversation with the woman in the lobby, but a catch-up between friends, or at least familiars. After a minute, Sora turned back toward Emma and gestured to her. He said some more words, and the man's face hardened slightly. He said something in a cautious voice. Sora shook his head, and said something else. The man spoke again, and Sora responded with a short string of words, the last of which was "Emma". Emma, who had been zoning out for the duration of this conversation, suddenly snapped back to attention. The man looked at her and repeated, "Emma."

"Yeah?" Emma squeaked. The man spouted a bunch of words at her, making up several sentences. When he was done, he just kept staring at Emma. "Um…I'm sorry, I don't understand you. It's really nice to meet you anyway. I like your place. It's really nice," Emma told him. "I particularly like your carpet. You don't usually see that kind of cheeriness in office settings. Well, at least not in ones that aren't located in Scranton, Pennsylvania."

The man was still staring intently at her. He turned back to Sora and said some more stuff, to which Sora nodded. Sora said some things, the man said some things, Sora said some things, and then opened the door he had entered through. Emma sheepishly bowed, and the man inclined his head in response. As Sora and Emma walked back down the stairs, Sora said, "Emma?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Sora pointed behind him and moved his fingers in a box shape. He held up one finger, pointed to it with another, and said "Emma." Emma pointed to herself and then pointed to Sora's finger. Sora nodded. He made the box again, and put Emma the Finger inside where the box had been. Emma shrugged with a confused look. Sora closed his eyes, clasped his hands by his head.

"A bed?" Emma repeated Sora's motion and pretended to snore. Sora nodded, did the motions again, then made the box again. "What, like a hotel?" Sora shrugged. "It's probably a hotel. Go on," she said, scooping her hands outward. Sora pointed behind them again, this time putting a finger between his nose and mouth like a mustache. He made the box again. "What, he's paying for a hotel room? That sounds a little creepy…but as long as I'll be the only one in it, that's great."

Sora and Emma kept walking, giving the lady in the lobby who Emma now guessed to be the man's receptionist, a quick wave. After they walked out the door, Sora stopped and started waving more frantically to someone in the distance. Emma following his line of vision to a girl around their age with a deep red bob, blue eyes, a white-and-black tank top, a short lavender skirt, a black choker, a little silver pendant, a blue band around the middle of her left arm, and a yellow band around her left wrist. Sora continued waving, and called "Kairi!"

Kairi waved back and ran toward him. When she noticed Emma, she smiled teasingly at Sora and said something to him. Sora waved his hands frantically as he responded. He gestured to Emma and said some words, including "Emma". Kairi spoke to Emma, but Emma just wrung her hands. Sora said something to Kairi, and Kairi smiled widely at Emma. Sora looked at Emma and pointed at her. He then pointed to the sky. He pointed to Kairi, and then pointed somewhere else in the sky. Emma nodded. "Yeah. Me and Kairi are from other worlds."

Sora said something to Kairi, and Kairi raised an eyebrow. She looked Emma over, then smiled at her again, grabbed her hands, and hopped up and down. Emma gamely hopped along; obviously, something good had happened, but she hadn't a clue what it was. She wiggled her fingers at Sora for an explanation after Kairi let go. Sora pointed to Emma, pointed to Kairi, and made the box shape again. "What?" It was Emma's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Kairi's staying in the hotel, too? But doesn't she…oh!"

From somewhere in the back of Emma's mind, a single memory floated forward. She vaguely remembered a flashback from Kingdom Hearts where a young Sora and Riku were discussing Kairi's recent arrival at the Destiny Islands. One of them had mentioned that she was staying with the mayor. Things were becoming clearer now; the mustachioed man in the office building was the mayor of the Destiny Islands, as well as Kairi's foster father, and Emma was going to be staying in their house. Until the islands got swallowed up by the darkness, anyway. If Vickery was right, the game was just starting, so Emma would probably be on the island for the next two days. Emma smiled warmly at Kairi, who was still smiling back and giggling away.

The sweet little moment was interrupted by a loud rumble from Emma's stomach. Emma chuckled and said, "Sorry 'bout that. I haven't had a single thing to eat today." Sora pulled a small black bag out of his shorts pocket and shook it into his hand. An assortment of small, coppery coins fell out, and he extended them toward Emma. Emma considered refusing the money out of politeness, but she was gut-crushingly starved, so she smiled, nodded, took the coins, and bowed a little. "What's the best food?" she asked, gesturing to the vendors around them. Sora pointed to a thickly-set man wearing an apron who was flipping some vegetables and scraps of meat on a grill. Emma nodded excitedly. Sora, Kairi, and Emma walked over to the vendor. Sora said something to him, and the man slopped some meat and vegetables into three paper boxes. He placed a wooden stick in each box, pushed them toward Sora, and said something. Sora and Kairi both dropped their coins into the man's hand, and Emma followed their lead a second later.

The three teenagers walked over to the other side of the street and sat down on a bench surrounded by large purple flowers that looked like lilies. Emma picked up the stick and stared at it. "Uh…guys? I've only got one chopstick." She glanced sideways at Sora and Kairi, and realized that they were just using the stick to stab the pieces of meat and vegetables and eating them off the stick. "Oh. That works too, I guess." Emma stabbed a piece of meat and brought it into her mouth. The meat was smooth and juicy, and had been spiced up with some tangy herbs that Emma couldn't place. "Dude! This is really good! I totally have to repay you."

Emma dipped her hand into the pocket of her pajama pants. Sora shook his head, but Emma insisted, "Seriously, I have to give you something. I'm not sure what I've got, but if I've got anything, you totally get to have it." Emma brought her hand out, producing a quarter, a nickel, a paperclip, a folded piece of paper with the names of some amusing YouTube videos, and a little silver bead. "Hmm. Well, this isn't the best haul, but here you go." She handed Sora everything but the paper. Sora laughed and inspected them, then handed them back to Emma. "No, no, keep them!" Emma told him, and held them back out. Sora shook his head. "Fine, suit yourself." She put the quarter, the nickel, and the paperclip back in her pocket, but she kept the bead in her hand. "You know…I don't think I've ever seen this before." She pinched it and brought it closer to her face, tilting her glasses away from her eyes to get a better look.

As Emma held the bead, it started glowing, and then disappeared. The glow entered Emma's fingers and slid through her palm and arm. "Whoa! Whoa, what was that?" she exclaimed. The box of food, which she had been holding with the hand not holding the bead, fell and hit the ground. Thankfully, only a couple scraps fell out, so she hastily picked the box back up and set what remained beside her on the bench. She focused on her arm, and Sora and Kairi did as well, but there was no sign of the glow. "Well, at least that's over for now."

At that moment, a sharp pain wracked Emma's head, and her ears were filled with a deafening buzz. She hunched over and put one hand over each ear with a screech. Sora and Kairi leaned closer to Emma, moving their lips, but all Emma could hear was the buzzing. The buzzing slowly went into a decrescendo, and the pain eased. Emma sighed and brought her head up. "Are you okay?" Kairi asked gingerly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's cool," Emma assured her. Then Emma's eyes shot wide open. She whirled around to face Kairi. "Did you just ask 'Are you okay'?!"

Sora and Kairi's eyes shot open as well. "Hang on, how long have you been able to speak our language?" Sora demanded.

"I can't!"

"Well, you're not doing a very good job of proving that," Kairi pointed out.

Emma looked back at her hand. "That bead definitely did something to me…it must've taught me your language! Maybe it learned your language when Sora touched it, then taught it to me by giving me a mega-migraine!"

Sora looked down at Emma's hand, then back at Emma's face. "Do they have a lot of things like that where you come from?"

"No, I've never seen that before in my…SNAP!" Emma yelled. "Grandpa Henry or Vickery must've slipped it into my pocket when I was sleeping! Why couldn't they have just GIVEN it to me? What did I ever do to them?!"

"Hey, calm down!" Sora put a hand on Emma's shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

Emma took a deep breath. "I'm not from around here, as you might have guessed. My grandpa and one of his crazy coworkers pretty much kidnapped me and dropped me here. I was asleep for part of the journey, and I think one of them gave me this thing when I was asleep."

"But how did they find a piece of technology like that?" Kairi asked. "And why did they bring you here?"

"Uh…I don't know?" Emma lied poorly.

"Well, however you learned our language, it's a good thing that you did. I was getting a little tired of communicating by hand," Sora said with a laugh.

Emma smiled. "Yeah, that wasn't so efficient. Here, let's start over." She held out her hand. "My name is Emma Baecker, and I'm from a city called Chicago." Sora and Kairi looked at Emma's hand, looked at each other, then both held their hands out as well, but just put them out straight instead of shaking Emma's. "Are you telling me that you guys don't shake hands?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"You're supposed to grab my hand and shake it. It's a greeting where I come from." Sora and Kairi both reached out for Emma's hand. "One at a time!" Kairi pulled her hand back, and Sora shook Emma's hand. After Sora withdrew his hand, Kairi shook Emma's hand. "Right. Good."

"My name's Kairi!" Kairi chirped.

"My name's Sora, but you already knew that," Sora stated. "That was the first thing you ever said to me. 'Sora'. Now that we can talk to each other normally, would you mind explaining how you know me?"

"Ehhhhh…it's a long story," Emma mumbled. "A long story that I'm still having trouble with myself."

"Try me."

Emma stared intently at the dusty ground, mulling over a variety of statements that would get her shipped off to an insane asylum. "Well…where I come from, we have this thing called a television. We call it a TV for short. It's a big box with a glass screen that you can buy and keep in your house. Some people have several different TVs in their house, so they can watch it wherever they want, and so people can watch different shows at the same time."

So far, Sora and Kairi didn't look too perturbed, but they did look interested. "What do you mean by shows?" Kairi asked.

"Well…when you watch the TVs, you can see what's going on in other worlds. The TV can show you a list of worlds, and you can pick which one you want to see, or you can put these little discs into machines that connect to the TV, and you can watch them. When you watch some of these discs, you get to move the camera around yourself and choose what you want to see. I saw the Destiny Islands on one of those discs."

Sora and Kairi stared at Emma in stunned silence. "So...you've just been watching us on a big box for all this time?" Sora asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, but it's not like I've been stalking you!" Emma exclaimed defensively. "It's just fun to watch other worlds, and you guys happen to be on one of the other worlds! Can you really blame me?"

"I guess not," Sora admitted. "If I had a TV, I bet I'd watch it all the time."

"TVs sound so cool!" Kairi gushed. "Why don't we have any on the islands?"

"I dunno, I guess you guys just haven't come up with the technology to make them yet," Emma hypothesized. "It's really a shame; lots of people say that TV rots your brain, but I love it."

Sora's jaw dropped. "TV rots your brain? Why do you watch it, then?"

Emma chuckled. "It doesn't actually rot your brain. People just joke that it does 'cuz you're just staring at the screen instead of doing something productive."

"Oh, good. I still want one, then."

"Speaking of productive, we'd better head back to the play island," Kairi declared. "We've got to prepare for our trip. We're going on a trip to other worlds! Well, maybe not other worlds, but definitely other places. We're putting together a raft and enough supplies to last us the journey. If you're stuck here, you can come with us!"

"'Us' would be Kairi, Riku, and me," Sora added. "Have you seen Riku on the TV?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I've seen him. And I'd love to come with you guys, but are you sure there's enough room."

"Yeah, it's a big raft! We'll have to gather some extra provisions for you to eat, but otherwise, we'd be happy to have you with us!" Kairi insisted.

"I don't know, Riku might not be too happy about having someone else on the raft," Sora pointed out. "Especially not someone he doesn't know."

"Don't worry, we'll just sit on opposite ends of the raft," Emma told him with a laugh. "For now, we should go to the other island and work on the raft. We just need some logs, rope, and cloth, right?"

Sora shook his head. "No, all we need now is food. We were thinking of bringing some coconuts, mushrooms, some seagull eggs, some fish, and some fresh water."

Every muscle in Emma's body stiffened. "That's...that's all?"

"That's all. Then we'll be ready to set sail!"

Emma grew a few shades paler and gripped the bench she sat on as tightly as she could to keep herself from falling over. She had been hoping to stay on the Destiny Islands long enough for Sora and his friends to teach her about the basics of fighting at the very least, since she'd have to go fight Heartless before long. Emma had assumed that today was the beginning of the game, so she'd have a day and a half to mess around and figure out how to defend herself. However, it turned out that today was actually the second day of the game. In other words, the Heartless would begin their attack that very night.

"Great googly moogly," Emma muttered.

Sora snorted. "Great what?"

"Great googly moogly. I don't like cursing, so I say that whenever a normal person would curse."

"Couldn't you have picked something that sounds a little less...kiddy?"

"Look, could we just get to the play island? I don't want to waste another minute."

"Why? What's the hurry?"

"...I'll tell you later."

"Fine, fine. Let's go!"

* * *

That was chapter 3 of Nothing's Like Before! As always, I hope you guys liked it. I'm sorry if the story's pacing is a little too fast, but I want to get our heroes off the islands ASAP so that the real meat of the story can begin.

On a similar note, I will be taking requests for worlds that you want to see in the story. Remember, every movie, book, TV show, or video game from the 20th and 21st centuries is fair game now. I've already got a bunch of worlds in mind, but having more couldn't hurt. Also remember that you'll be giving me suggestions, not orders; I can't guarantee that I'll take everyone's ideas. Your input will be very helpful nonetheless. Just name the world you want in your review!

I don't think I'll be uploading another chapter at any point later this month, so I'll take the time right now to wish you all a merry Christmahanakwanzaakah Solstice and a happy New Year.

FG out, yo.


	4. The Calm Before the Storm

"So, this is the play island!" Kairi chirped as she, Sora, and Emma stood on the small island's deck. "We come here whenever we can."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I saw all that with my TV. Besides, this was where I got dropped off. Over there by the shack."

Sora jumped off of the deck and landed on the beach, causing the sand to rustle beneath his clown shoes. "Well, we'd better start collecting our provisions. If we're going to be traveling for a while, we'll need a lot of food."

Kairi and Emma jumped down after him. "You guys will have to do all the gathering yourselves. I've got something else I need to do."

"Are you kidding me?" Sora groaned.

"It's important, I promise!"

"More important than finding food?"

"It's okay, Sora, I'm sure we can find enough food by ourselves," Emma assured him. "We'll have Riku helping us, too, so we should be fine. I mean, Riku WILL help us, won't he?"

"Yeah, he can be pretty no-nonsense…he's probably looking for food as we speak," Sora admitted, brightening up. "We should be done in no time!"

Emma nervously wrung her hands a bit. "In that case, do you think you could teach me to fight? I mean, you and Riku hit each other with wooden swords all day, right? You guys should be pretty good. Good enough to teach me, at least."

Sora grinned. "Yeah, we're pretty good. But why do you need to know how to fight?"

"Oh, uh…I was just thinking…when we're trying to find other worlds, we might, y'know…bump into something nasty. If we do, I don't want to just sit there and wait to get eaten alive."

"Don't worry about that! Sora and Riku will definitely save us," Kairi said, causing Sora's grin to widen proudly.

"Well, yeah, but what if they're not around? I should at least know how to swing a sword without hitting myself in the face," Emma said.

"I guess you've got a point," Sora agreed. "When we're done finding provisions, you can watch Riku and me do a demonstration, and then we'll try to teach you."

Emma sighed in slight relief. "Then I'll try to learn. Thank you."

"No problem. Let's go over to the cove."

… … …

The cove was fundamentally the same as the way it was portrayed in the game, right down to the tower with the hangline, but like before, it was infinitely more beautiful when viewed with one's own two eyes. Sora laughed at Emma's gaping expression. "You've had just about the same face no matter where I've taken you in the last hour. Don't they have trees and beaches in your world?"

"Yeah, but there aren't any trees or beaches like this in the part of my world where I live. There's a beach, but it's just dirty sand and water, and there are trees, but not beautiful, giganimous ones like these."

"Giganimous?"

"It's gigantic plus enormous. It's the only way to describe how big the trees are."

"I see."

"Hey, Sora! Kairi! I was just looking for you." A boy with shoulder-length, silver hair and bright turquoise eyes ran up to Sora and Kairi. When he noticed Emma standing next to his friends, he scrunched his face up and looked her over. "And who is this?"

Emma held her hand out. "Emma Baecker. I'm new here." Riku's confused, distrustful stare caused her hand to slink back to her side.

"New, huh? How exactly did you get here?" Riku demanded. "It's not like we have a lot of boats coming to the islands."

"I just washed up here earlier today. I'm not sure how I got here, but here I am," Emma explained.

"Just like me," Kairi added, trying to dispel some of the sketchy vibes Riku was likely receiving. "She's from another world! Probably not my world, though."

Riku narrowed his eyes. "How do we know that you're telling the truth?" Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Riku continued, "Well, you're definitely not from around here, so you'd have to be from another world." He ran a black-gloved hand through his hair. "That's incredible. How did you get here?"

"I told you, I just washed up on the beach," Emma lied.

"If you and Kairi both came from across the sea, from two different worlds, there's no telling how many worlds we can get to on our raft!" Riku's skepticism had melted away and been replaced by barely-restrained glee. "This is going to be amazing."

"Do you mind if Emma comes with us?" Sora asked. "She wouldn't be a bother."

Riku's attitude became a little more hostile again. "You just met her, Sora. Are you sure we can trust her?"

"She seems nice! And if we leave without her, she won't know anyone on the islands!"

"I want to explore other worlds, not babysit a little kid."

Emma frowned. "What little kid? I'm sixteen years old!"

Sora, Riku, and Kairi gawked. "You're older than us?" Sora asked incredulously. "But you're so small! And you've still got some baby fat!" He lightly pinched Emma's right cheek.

Emma swatted his hand away with her own hand. "It's not baby fat!" she yelled.

"Oh, so it's just regular fat?" Riku quipped.

"Look, you can trust me, okay? And you don't have to babysit me! And if you get sick of me, you can just shove me off of the raft."

"Fine. She can come," Riku decided. "But I may take you up on that shoving offer."

"Good," Emma scoffed. The threat didn't hold much weight for her, knowing that they wouldn't end up making the journey. Not on the raft, at least.

"Anyway, I came over to talk to you about the raft," Riku told Sora. "It doesn't have a name yet."

Sora shrugged. "Does it need one?"

"Of course. Everything needs a name. I personally like the Highwind."

"That's a dumb name!" Sora retorted. "It's not nearly original enough."

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, I…uh…hmm." Sora turned to Emma and inclined his head. "Emma, help me out here."

"Excalibur," Emma whispered back.

"Excalibur!" Sora announced.

Riku chuckled. "Excalibur? What's an Excalibur?"

"It's a sword," Emma replied.

"Why would we name our boat after a sword?"

"I don't know, but it sounds cool and unique!" Sora insisted. "I think we should call the raft Excalibur!"

"I still think we should call it the Highwind. Kairi, what do you think?"

"I like them both!"

"Looks like we'll have to settle this the usual way," Sora said, grinning again.

"A race?" Riku clarified with a smirk.

"You bet. Kairi, can you be the judge?"

Kairi put her hands on her hips, but she was smiling. "Why is everything always a contest with you two?"

"It's more fun that way!" Sora declared cheerfully.

"Okay, I'll judge," Kairi gave in. She pointed to some cliffs that laid beyond the wooden tower, above a grove of palm trees. "The rules are the same as always: you can take any route you want, but you have to reach the far ledge and then run back."

"Right!" Sora and Riku chorused. They walked past Kairi and Emma and stood in a readying position by the dilapidated bridge.

"If I win, I'm captain!" Sora told his rival. "And if you win—"

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi," Riku finished under his breath, just loud enough for Sora to hear. Sora's eyes widened in surprise. "Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi."

"W-wait a minute!" Sora stuttered, starting to blush.

Kairi raised an arm. "Okay, on my count! Three…two…one…go!" She dropped her arm, prompting Sora and Riku to take off running.

Emma laughed as the two boys frantically jumped over soggy planks of wood, shoving each other out of the way. "They really do act like little kids sometimes."

Kairi giggled. "I've gotten used to it. Besides, they can be really sweet sometimes! They've been my friends ever since I found myself here. I forgot everything about my old world, so they're some of the first faces I remember."

"So it's kind of like a baby chick thing, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"When chicks hatch, they treat the first thing they see like it's their mother, even if it's not."

"Oh, but Sora and Riku aren't my mothers!"

"Well yeah, but you're really attached to them. It's kind of similar."

"They're more like brothers than mothers. It's a good thing, too; I've already got a foster mother, but I don't have any foster brothers or sisters. Sora and Riku fill that spot for me."

"That's good."

Kairi smiled wistfully at the blue horizon. "But as much as I like my foster mother, I'd really like to find my real mother." She turned back around to Emma. "Do you think we'll find her?"

Emma also smiled, but hers was more strained. "We might. It's a hard thing to predict. But who knows, we might find your world."

"That would be perfect. It'd be so weird seeing everything again...would every memory come flooding back, or would it feel like I was in a totally new place?" Kairi frowned slightly. "You're lucky, Emma. I know it must be hard for you, being taken away from your world after being used to it for so long, but on the bright side, you can still remember things about it. It's not like you've been totally separated from it."

"Hey, I'm planning to go back to my world ASAP," Emma said quickly. "And...you'll probably be back on your world before you know it."

Kairi's smile returned. "I hope so."

Heavy panting interrupted the conversation as Sora and Riku came dashing back into view. Riku was rounding the corner of the tower, and Sora was climbing down from the cliffs beside it. Once they were both on the same level, it became clear that even though Sora had taken the shortcut, Riku was a yard ahead. He jumped back onto the bridge, leapt across the gap, and landed next to Kairi and Emma. "All right, we're naming the raft Highwind," Riku declared, smirking at Sora, who just stumbled back. Sora grimaced at him and dropped to his knees, still panting.

Kairi jumped up and down a couple times. "Good job, Riku!"

"Yeah…good job," Sora grumbled. Riku held out his hand, which Sora ruefully accepted, and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon, Emma, let's find some food." He stalked back across the bridge with stiff shoulders.

Emma scurried after him, taking care not to get her foot stuck in a gap. "Hey Sora, are you okay?"

"Fine."

"You don't sound fine," Emma remarked. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"Yes. Finding food."

"Look, you can't let Riku get you down! Naming a raft isn't a big deal, and frankly, I'm not sure I believe the whole 'sharing a paopu equals being entwined forever and ever' thing is true. Just--"

"It IS true." Sora's gaze remained fixed on the sand he was walking on, but his voice grew harsher. "Riku and I have always fought over stuff, and Riku usually wins. I just hoped he wouldn't beat me to Kairi."

"Sora, you've still got time to make her like you better, if she doesn't already."

Sora reached his hand into a tall bush and pulled out a wooden sword. "Emma, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up, but just let me wallow for a while, okay? Right now, let's focus on getting provisions." He struck a nearby palm tree with the sword. The impact caused two coconuts to drop off. "Can you go pick some mushrooms for us? We should get a dozen for each of us."

"Okay. What kind of mushrooms are safe to eat?"

"You don't know?"

"Not really. Can't you just give me a description?"

"That'd take too much time. Just go get some fish. As many as you can carry."

"Do I have to kill them?"

"Yeah, if you want to eat them! We're not bringing them as pets!"

"I'd rather not."

Sora sighed exasperatedly and handed Emma his sword. "Okay, you can be in charge of collecting coconuts. Keep hitting the trees until the coconuts come down, and collect the yellow ones."

"Where do I put them?"

"Just pile them up under some ferns or something. When we come back here to set sail tomorrow, we'll bring some big sacks to put them in. Got that?"

"Yeah."

"Great. I'm going to find some mushrooms. I'll be back in half an hour." Sora raised his hand in a parting gesture and began exiting the cove.

… … …

"Hey, Emma!" Kairi approached Emma with her hands behind her back. "How are things going?"

Emma bashed one of the palm trees with her sword. There were still a few coconuts at the top of the tree, but none of them fell off. "Alright, I guess…I underestimated how much pressure you need to get these babies down.

Kairi bent down to examine a pile containing several yellow coconuts. "These ones look nice. Way to go!"

Emma scratched her head. "Thanks. If you don't mind me asking, what've you got there?"

"A necklace!" Kairi lilted, extending her hands to show off five lavender-and-yellow shells that were tied together with purple string to resemble a star. "It's a thalassa shell necklace, to be exact."

"So this is what was so important that you couldn't collect food with us? You ditched us for some pretty shells?" Emma joked.

Kairi shook her head wildly, causing her red bangs to flap around. "I wasn't just messing around! It's a good luck charm. In the old days, sailors always wore _thalassa shells_ to ensure a safe voyage. We're going on a voyage, so I thought we could use one of these!"

Sora ran over, still frowning. "I brought mushrooms and fish," he reported, handing Kairi two thick bags. "That should be enough."

Kairi beamed at him. "It's plenty. Emma got some coconuts, so Riku just needs to bring back some seagull eggs and drinking water, and then we'll have all we need."

"So Sora and I are finished here?" Emma asked.

Kairi nodded. "You're free to go fight."

"Great! Do you want to come and watch?" Sora asked tentatively.

"No, I should stay here until Riku comes back so I can put all the food together."

"Oh." Sora's shoulders drooped. "I'll see you later, then. C'mon, Emma." He began walking away.

Emma waited until they were out of Kairi's earshot, then asked, "Are you still worked up about Riku winning? You have to let that go."

"Huh? No, it's not that," Sora responded. "It's just…I was looking for mushrooms, and I went into this cave, and there was this guy there. He was wearing this big brown cloak, and I think he was from another world, too, but he was being really cryptic."

"Ah…well, you shouldn't let that bother you either. He was probably some random creeper who was trying to freak you out."

"He didn't sound like anyone I know. And like we said, we don't get a lot of visitors here."

"It was probably nothing. Why don't we start my fighting lessons?"

Sora abruptly stopped walking and furrowed his eyebrows. "Emma, is there something you're not telling me?" he asked suspiciously.

Emma laughed nervously. "Wh-wh-whatever gave you that idea?"

"You've been watching the islands for a while. You may have seen things that we haven't."

"I can only see particular things, and I haven't seen a guy in a cloak!"

"So why are you so eager to change the subject?"

"Like I said, we're setting sail tomorrow, and I might need to defend myself against whatever we find!"

Sora's continued frown showed that he was still unconvinced, but he kept walking. "Most of my friends can fight. I'll see if anyone wants to give a demonstration."

* * *

That was chapter 4 of Nothing's Like Before! I know that I said I probably wouldn't be uploading another chapter this month, but my head's been buzzing with fun ideas for worlds, so I wanted to hurry things up and get everyone off the islands already. Once they get to Traverse Town, I'll have much more creative liberty, so the story won't just be Kingdom Hearts in text form with Emma hanging around and watching.

While I hate to sound like a pimp, I'd appreciate it if you guys could recommend NLB to your friends. More reviews means more criticism, which means I can try to make the story better. And I'm still taking suggestions for worlds that you want to see in the story, so if you've got any more ideas, please throw them at me.

Merry Christmas Eve, happy belated Hanukkah, and an early Happy Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and New Year! And on an interesting side note, it's also the 6th anniversary of the day I got Kingdom Hearts!

FG out, yo.


	5. The Storm

"Sora! Sora, what's up?" As Sora and Emma approached the seaside shack, the kids who had been playing ball when Emma arrived ran up to them. The tallest boy squinted at Emma. "Hey, man, are you still dragging the foreigner around? I thought you dropped her off at the mayor's office!"

Emma held a hand up. "The foreigner can understand you now," she stated. "And my name is Emma."

The other kids stared at her, then back at Sora. "Wait, when did she learn to speak our language?" a short girl demanded.

"I always knew how," Emma responded. "My, ah…my grandma was from the islands, but she moved. She taught me your language, though, so I can sorta speak it. I was just so startled at having washed up here that my brain didn't realize it could understand you."

The tall boy crossed his arms. "And where exactly are you from?"

"Chicago."

"Never heard of it. Is it another island?"

"Yeah, sure. It's really far away, though."

"So you floated in the sea for hours, unconscious? And you didn't drown?"

"I don't remember. I must've hit my head on something."

"Anyway, she needs your help, Hass," Sora interrupted, saving Emma from spouting more flaky lies. "She wanted to learn how to fight, and I was hoping that maybe we could do a demonstration." Emma examined Sora's friends; she had been expecting Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka, but these kids had never been in the games. "So, are you up to it?"

Hass cracked his knuckles. "You bet. Roden, get my sword." A boy who was about a foot shorter than Hass ran into the seaside shack, came out with a wooden sword, and handed it to him. Emma passed Sora's sword back to him. "Ready to make yourself look like an idiot in front of your new friend?"

"In your dreams!" Sora retorted excitedly.

"We'll see about that! HI-YAH!" Hass sprang forward and swung his sword. Sora ducked, then tried to jab Hass in the stomach, but Hass jumped back. Both boys swung again, and their swords clattered together. They continued to try and get hits in, but their swords kept meeting. Hass aimed for Sora's legs instead, but Sora did a backflip and bashed Hass squarely in the chest. Hass toppled, giving Sora the opportunity to stick his sword in his opponent's face. "Okay, okay…you got the best of me this time," Hass conceded.

Sora grinned and moved his sword away. "As if I don't usually get the best of you?"

Hass got to his feet, brushed some sand off, and shrugged. "Wait until next time. I'll have you begging for mercy." He walked away, followed by Roden and the short girl.

Emma clapped. "You sure showed him!"

"Yeah, now let's try showing you." Sora picked up a thick branch and handed it to Emma. "First off, we're going to work on defense. I'm going to try to hit you, you just have to keep dodging and parrying."

"The best defense is a good offense," Emma commented.

"Let's stick to one thing at a time, right?"

"Dodging and parrying are two things."

"Hey, you're the one who asked for my help," Sora reminded her.

Emma shrugged and mock-bowed. "You are the sensei, I am the grasshopper."

"…you're a what now?"

"Nevermind, let's start." Emma clenched her hands around the branch. Sora swung his sword at her, so Emma raised the branch to deflect the blow, but Sora struck her hand. "OW OW OW OW OW!" Emma yelped, dropping the branch and shaking her hand out.

Sora rolled his eyes with a smile. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Yes," Emma grumbled, stooping to pick up the branch. "Your move." Sora swung again, aiming for Emma's torso. Emma jumped backward enough for Sora to miss her, but she lost her footing and fell down. "Sheesh! This isn't working!"

"It took me more than a couple minutes to learn to fight," Sora assured her. "It's not going to take you 30 seconds. Wanna keep at it?"

Emma nodded. "Yes. I need to."

Sora grabbed Emma's hands and dragged her back up. "Why are you so sure that we'll find something we'll have to fight?"

"Better safe than sorry. Now hit me again!"

… … …

"Snap, this place gets prettier and prettier the more I look at it," Emma remarked. She and Sora were leaning against the stone wall that separated the beach from the rest of the seaside area. Evening was approaching; the sea reflected the pink, orange and gold sky and glittered like it held thousands of diamonds. "I've never seen anything this gorgeous."

"Are you serious? I don't care how industrial Chicago is, if it's got a sun, it HAS to have sunsets," Sora contended.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, it's got some pretty nice sunsets, but they'd look much nicer if they were framed by this kind of environment."

Riku and Kairi walked up and plopped down next to Emma and Sora. "How'd the sparring go?" Kairi asked cheerfully.

"I'm covered in bruises and sand, but I've got the basics down," Emma declared.

"She did alright," Sora affirmed, clapping her on the back.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

"That's great!" Kairi said.

"Good for you," Riku said, allowing an insincere smile.

"Are we all set for our trip tomorrow?" Sora asked.

"We're all set," Riku replied. "First thing tomorrow, we're taking off. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time we went home. We'll need our rest."

"You can go, but I thought I'd stick around for a bit," Sora told him. "If we're really leaving, I wanna say my goodbyes to this place. It's been all I've known for all my life."

Riku looked around the shore. "Same for me, but that's my reason to leave as soon as possible, not to grab some last memories. What about you, Kairi?"

"Mmm…I want to stay, too," Kairi decided. "Just for a little while. Riku, do you mind taking Emma back with you to the main island? She doesn't quite how to row. She knows her way to Daddy's office, though, so you don't have to accompany her that far."

Riku contemplated this course of action with a not-too-pleasant expression, then said, "Sure. I can do that. See you guys tomorrow."

"Seeya," Emma echoed, then followed Riku over to the dock. "Sorry," she mumbled, taking a seat in the back of the canoe.

Riku focused on untying the boat's tether. "Why is that?"

"Because you have to ferry me around."

"We're going in the same direction anyway."

"Yeah, but you've got to propel twice as much weight by yourself."

"It's fine, really," Riku told her, his irritated tone contradicting his words. He picked up a paddle and sat in front of Emma.

A couple of minutes passed in silence, which Emma spent watching fish again. Riku eventually said, "I don't hate you, y'know."

Emma looked up. "Yeah?"

"I just don't trust you."

"Oh, that's loads better," Emma tittered.

Riku inhaled and exhaled very slowly. "You do realize that your sudden appearance here is really sketchy, don't you?"

Emma awkwardly tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I know. But I promise, I'm a decent person once you get to know me."

"That's just it. We don't really know you," Riku pointed out. "And yet Sora's insisted that we bring you on our trip. It was nice of him, but he can be too nice for his own good."

"I'm not going to betray his trust," Emma maintained. "And if you ever decide to trust me, I won't betray you either."

"We'll see."

… … …

"I must say, it's wonderful to be able to speak with you, Emma." Emma, Kairi, the mayor, and his wife sat around a large, circular wooden table, imbibing soup from thin metal bowls. The mayor's wife was beaming away at Emma. "When my husband told me about his first encounter with you, I was a little worried; they say you learn languages the fastest as a young child, so it was easy to teach Kairi our language, but I knew it would be more difficult to teach a teenager. I'm glad you already know how to speak with us. It's such a relief not to have a pesky language barrier between us."

Emma nodded and absent-mindedly twirled her spoon around in her bowl. "Believe me, Mrs…Kairi's mom…lady…I'm just as relieved."

The mayor dabbed his mouth primly with a napkin. "So, Emma, did Kairi and her friends take care of you?"

"Yes, sir, I had a great time hanging out with them."

"Wonderful. I was going to propose a more formal orientation to the islands tomorrow, but I imagine you'd rather spend some more time with people closer to your own age. We can move the orientation to a few days from now."

Emma and Kairi exchanged quick, furtive glances. "Yes…of course," Emma murmured. A breeze came through the open window, prompting the two girls to look through it. They were met by a dark, ominous sky and a few lightning bolts coming from further off.

Kairi scooted her chair back and stood up. "Daddy, may I be excused? It looks like a storm might be starting, and I didn't tether my canoe very tightly. I don't want it floating away, so can I go fix it?"

The mayor peered out the window. "Sweetheart, I know how attached you are to your canoe, but I don't think you should go out there by yourself. That storm looks like it could get pretty rough."

"I'll go with her," Emma told him, standing up. "The worst that could happen is that she'll slip on something. If she does, I'll help her back. And that's the worst case scenario. We'll probably be safe."

"And what if you slip, too?"

"Then at least we'll both have some company. But we'll be TOTALLY safe," Emma assured him, with the ulterior motive of trying to assure herself.

The mayor nodded. "You girls can go, but I want you back here in five minutes."

Emma saluted him. "Yes, sir."

"We'll be right back, Daddy!" Kairi cooed, kissing her foster father on the forehead before skipping out the door. The air outside felt pleasant and cool, but it was hard to appreciate it when such a menacing-looking storm wasn't far off. "I don't get it! The weather was so beautiful just a few hours ago!"

Emma smiled mischievously. "Speaking of a few hours ago, did you have a nice little chat with Sora?"

Kairi's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, after Riku and I left, weren't you alone on the island?"

"Okay, we did talk for a while," Kairi admitted with a small blush. "But this isn't the best time to talk about it. We've got to make sure the raft is okay!"

"Right." Emma and Kairi ran down the dusty path to the island's docks. "So, you told your dad that your canoe wasn't tied tight enough. I take it he doesn't know about the raft?"

Kairi sighed. "If he knew, he'd never let me go. He couldn't bear watching his precious little angel leave. I just HAVE to see other worlds…even if it means breaking Mommy and Daddy's hearts. But it won't be forever! I'll come back here someday, when our journey's over. Of course, we can't take that journey if our raft breaks."

"Right again."

… … …

By the time that Emma and Kairi arrived at the play island, a gigantic, swirling purple-and-black orb with a reddish center was hovering high above the beach. "What…what is that thing?" Kairi asked fearfully.

Emma shrank back into the canoe. "Darkness," she muttered. "Pure darkness."

"Have you ever seen it before?"

"No, not in person…"

"What do we do?"

Emma pinched the bridge of her nose in concentration. A dull wooden clap caused her to look up; another canoe was tied to the dock as well and had just knocked into Kairi. Emma pursed her lips momentarily, then announced, "We have to go to the secret place."

"How do you know about the secret place?"

"I saw it on the TV. Sorry."

"So you think we'll be safe there?"

Emma placed a hand over her mouth; she felt as if she was going to vomit. If the plot was going to go anywhere, Kairi had to lose her heart, but having to lead her to the slaughter was gut-wrenching. "Yes," Emma finally managed. "We'll be safe."

Kairi began tying the canoe to the dock. As she did, two tiny black splotches appeared on the dock. The splotches wobbled and formed themselves into foot-tall black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. Kairi screamed. "How…how did…"

Emma jumped onto a Heartless-free part of the dock. "Forget the canoe, we have to go!" She grabbed Kairi's wrist and started running. As they ran, more Shadows cropped up and began chasing them.

The secret place had been blocked by an ornate, silvery set of doors. "Where did these come from?" Kairi asked, clinging to Emma's arm.

"I don't have all the answers!" Emma shouted. She grabbed one of the handles and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. "Kairi, help me open the door!" Kairi removed one hand from Emma's arm and pulled on the same handle that Emma was holding. It opened a bit. "Now get in there!"

"Aren't you coming in with me?"

Emma shook her head. "I have to wait for Sora."

"Can't I wait for Sora too?"

"Yeah, but you have to wait in there. Sora taught me to fight, so I'm going to fight these creatures away from the door. Okay?"

Kairi sighed. "Okay." She waved and walked through the crack. She pulled the door from the other side while Emma pushed, and the door closed again.

Emma scanned the area for a weapon. Someone had left a wooden sword by the waterfall, so she picked it up. "This'll have to do for now," she told herself. A Shadow squirmed up to her and stared at her with its frightening eyes. "Go away!" She aimed a jab at the Shadow's head, but the sword harmlessly went through it. "Oh, right…the wooden sword doesn't hurt Heartless. This is going to be a problem." The Shadow lurched forward and clawed at her leg. "OW OW OW!" Emma shouted. She reflexively grabbed her calf. She then looked at her hand, which now had trails of blood on it. "Great googly moogly…what happened to HP?"

"Do you really have to keep saying that?"

Emma looked around. "Sora?" She jumped over the Shadow and ran down the beach to Sora, who had just gotten out of his canoe. "Sora, are you okay?"

Sora nodded. "What about you?"

"I'm bleeding, but otherwise I'm okay."

"Where's Kairi? You came with her, right?"

"Yeah. She's in the secret place."

"How do you know about—"

"TV."

"Oh. Of course." Sora started to run over to the secret place, but Emma grabbed his shoulder. "What? We have to get Kairi!"

"She's safe for now," Emma explained. "Look, there's doors now. The creatures can't get in. Right now, we have to find Riku." She pointed to the tiny island that was connected to the play island by a bridge. "There he is!"

Sora threw open the door of the seaside shack and ran inside, followed by Emma. Once she was inside, Emma stared in horror at the ground. "What's wrong?" Sora asked. "It's just sand."

"Yeah…it's just sand," Emma agreed.

"Then what's the problem?"

The problem was that there was no save point. Emma had been expecting one, at least to heal her if not to save the game, which she was clearly not in. "It's fine. Let's go." She and Sora ran up the stairs and across the bridge, passing a few more Shadows.

"The door has opened…" Riku murmured as Sora and Emma approached. He turned around and grinned at Sora. "The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

Sora looked aghast. "What are you talking about? What about Kairi? She's trapped in—"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku promised. He turned his eyes toward the hovering orb of darkness. "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" He extended his hand to Sora, just as a pool of writhing darkness appeared beneath him. Black tendrils reached up around him, grabbing his legs and torso.

"Riku!" Sora ran forward to grab Riku's hand, but the black tendrils wrapped themselves around his feet as well, holding him back. Sora leaned closer and closer, trying in vain to reach his friend.

Just as their hands almost touched, a bright flash of light appeared. Sora hid his face in the crook of the arm that was holding the wooden sword, and Emma clamped her hands over her eyes. The light faded, and they both uncovered their faces to see what had happened. Sora's sword had disappeared, but had been replaced by a massive, silver-and-gold key. "Whoa…"

Emma looked up at the sky. "What, nothing for me? This doesn't exactly help!" she cried, waving her wooden sword around. "It doesn't even have to be a Keyblade! I'd settle for a giant enchanted spoon! I'd…Sora, behind you!"

Sora stopped examining the Keyblade to turn around and see a Shadow. "What do you want me to do? I can't hit it!"

"Now you can!"

Sora swung the Keyblade at the Shadow and hit in the head, making it reel backward. "Awesome!" He hit it a few more times, and it exploded in a black puff. "I could get used to this! Hey, how did you know I could hit these creatures now?"

"TV again. I've seen other people with Keyblades."

"Is that what this thing is called?"

"Yeah, now let's get Kairi!"

"I thought you said she was safe."

"Yeah, but we've gotta leave soon. She can't stay here."

Sora and Emma ran back to the secret place. Emma grabbed a handle and pulled as hard as she could, but Sora grabbed the other and almost immediately yanked it wide open. "It feels really cold in here," Sora noted. They walked further in to see Kairi standing in front of a large, wooden door with gold trim. "Kairi!" Sora yelled.

Kairi turned around. She was frowning, and her eyes were unnaturally dull. "Sora…" she called out limply. As held her hand out toward him, the door flew open, and a strong gust of wind blew out of it, along with black clouds of smoke. Sora tried to catch Kairi, who had been thrust forward by the wind, but the moment after she landed in his arms, she disappeared. The next thing Sora and Emma knew, they were being blown out of the cave.

The pair landed on the sand with a loud thump. The sky was now a dark purple, and bits of the island were being sucked into the dark orb, which was still floating in midair. Emma scrambled to her feet and got in a defensive stance. "Watch out! We're going to have to fight a really big Heartless in a second," her tone cracking with panic.

Sora also got up, looking just as panicked. "You mean they're not all the size of the first ones?!"

"Afraid not," Emma lamented.

Sora and Emma looked around wildly for the Darkside Heartless, but it never came. Instead, another strong gust of wind picked up around them and sent them flying up toward the orb. Their screams ripped through the air for a few moments, and then cut off altogether.

For everyone on Destiny Islands, all Hell was breaking loose.

For everyone else, a single star shimmered and blinked out.

* * *

That was chapter 5 of Nothing's Like Before! Technically, this was supposed to be part of chapter 4, but I was receiving complaints about its length. Frankly, I was intimidated by such a long chunk of text, too. So I cut the chapter in half. For those of you who read the original super-long chapter 4, I apologize if I made you think that I'd written another chapter so soon.

Anyway, at the time that I'm typing this, there's still an hour left until the end of December 25th, so I'll wish you a Merry Christmas once again.

FG out, yo.


	6. An Englishman in Traverse Town

"AGH, GET OFF ME!" At the end of a dim alley, Emma was being subjected to the unwelcome sensation of a large white dog slobbering all over her face. She lightly pushed him away. "What do you want from me? You're supposed to be licking him!" she insisted, jerking her head in Sora's direction, who was still dozing beside her. The dog just panted and wagged his tail. Unable to resist the cuteness, Emma scratched him behind the ears. "Hmm…you're probably not Pluto…maybe Donald and Goofy aren't here yet." The dog answered with a loud bark.

The noise caused Sora to wake up with a yelp. "WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?!" He instinctively pointed the Keyblade at the dog, which made the dog bark again. Upon realizing that his target didn't pose much of a threat, Sora lowered his weapon and looked around. "Wait…where are we?"

Emma stood up and pet the dog some more. "Traverse Town. At least, I hope it's Traverse Town."

"Why's that?"

"Because then I'll know my way around."

"You've been here before?" Sora asked, holding his hand out to the dog. The dog ignored him in favor of Emma's wooden sword, which he sniffed vigorously and then started chewing.

"No, but I've seen this place on my TV too."

Sora wobbled to his feet and yawned loudly. "Man, I want my own TV. But how did we get here?"

"Do you remember getting sucked into that big scary sphere in the sky?"

"That was real?"

"Yep. Sorry."

Sora grabbed Emma's shoulders. "What happened to the islands?"

"They got destroyed by those monsters," Emma explained. Sora's jaw dropped. "I'm really sorry. But there's a way to fix them."

"HOW?!" Sora yelled, shaking Emma furiously. "HOW DO WE FIX IT?! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

Emma adjusted her glasses. "We have to travel to a bunch of different worlds, and prevent the same thing from happening to them. Then we'll find the people who can fix everything. But don't go around asking everyone if they know how, or you'll end up looking like a madman. When we find them, we'll know."

Sora loosened his grip. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"But what happened to Riku and Kairi? And my family! And everyone else on the islands?"

"Anyone who got sucked up into the big orb probably got scattered around a bazillion different worlds. We're crazy lucky that we ended up on the same one."

"And if they didn't get sucked up?"

Emma cast her eyes to the ground. "Then, ah…then they got their heart stolen."

"They WHAT?!"

"They got turned into one of those monsters."

"By getting their heart ripped out?"

"Well, I don't know if they mean a literal heart…they were always kinda fuzzy on that point. But we might be able to fix them when we fix the islands, so we can't just lie around and mope. We've got to keep moving."

Sora sighed heavily. "Okay. I'll follow your lead."

"Good." Emma and Sora left the dog alone with the sword and walked into a plaza. It was primarily constructed with red brick and stone, lit by several branching lamps. A small café was tucked away on the right-hand side, but there were no customers. There were two massive sets of doors, one on the left-hand side and one straight ahead, at the end of the plaza. "This is SO mind-blowing," Emma declared. "I can't say it's any prettier up close, but it's certainly trippy." She turned around to look at the big beige-and-brown building behind her and Sora. A neon sign sat on top of a pair of turquoise double doors. "This must be the accessory shop."

Sora squinted at the sign's blocky letters. "You can read it?"

"No, but I know this is where the shop should be."

"So you can't read it either?"

"No."

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy."

Emma and Sora pushed the doors open. They entered an average-sized shop with a brick fireplace, two couches, a chair, and a long green counter with a diamond pattern on the front. Cid was not behind the counter, but instead of the blue glass panels, there was another turquoise door. "Cid's probably in there," Emma said.

"Who's Cid?"

"He's the guy who runs this shop," Emma explained. She walked up to the counter and rang a bell that sat there. Nobody answered, so she rang it a few more times.

A loud, whining voice called from the other side of the door, followed by trudging footsteps. The door opened, and a young man wearing an oversized green T-shirt, baggy blue jeans, and black fingerless gloves staggered out. He swayed a bit before placing his hands on the counter to steady himself, and grumbled something.

Sora whispered, "Emma, what did Cid say?"

"This isn't Cid. And I can't speak Traverse-Townese, or whatever you call the language here."

"Do you have another bead? Like the one that taught you how to speak my language?"

Emma put her hands in her pockets and wiggled them around. "No, I only had one. But maybe he's got one." She held up her fingers to make a circular shape. "Have you got any of these?" she asked the man, who kept staring at her with half-lidded eyes. She then bent over and grabbed her head, pretending to be in pain. She straightened herself out and looked back at the man. The man dimly nodded and crouched to look behind the counter. The rustling of cardboard boxes could be heard. "It's cool, I think he got the picture," Emma assured both Sora and herself.

Suddenly, the rustling became louder and more frantic, and the man yelled, "Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" He brought out a few aluminum cans and peered inside. "Where are you, where the BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?!" As he put the cans back and shuffled around some more, Emma sighed in relief; although it didn't seem like the man had any beads, at least he spoke English. "Aw, Lucy's gonna kill me…"

"Hey, calm down for a second!" Emma said, switching from the Destiny Islands' language to English.

The man looked up. "You…you speak English?" Emma nodded, while Sora looked on in confusion. The man laughed weakly. "That's brilliant, that is! But couldn't you have said something sooner? I almost had a heart attack!"

"Sorry, but I didn't know you could speak English either. I'm guessing from the accent that you're from London?"

"Spot on. And you're from…I dunno, somewhere in America?"

"That's right."

"America's alright. I've been livin' in Seattle for awhile. Well, WAS livin' in Seattle. After the Heartless came, I started livin' here."

Emma's eyes widened. "The Heartless got to Earth? When?"

"Not your Earth, kid. A parallel Earth. Although consid'rin' that you're here an' all, I'd assume your Earth's gone too."

"Oh, no, I got dropped off somewhere else on a Gummi ship, and then that world got attacked by Heartless. As far as I know, my Earth's safe. How many Earths are there?"

The man began to count on his fingers, but soon dropped them and decided, "A whole fuckload."

"Cool."

"I know, innit?"

Sora tapped Emma's shoulder. "What are you guys talking about?"

Emma smiled apologetically and returned to Sora's language. "It turns out that there's a bazillion different copies of my world, and this guy's from one of the copies, so he knows my language."

"Great, but does he have any of those beads?"

"I think that's why he was yelling; he's all out. But I'll ask him, just to be sure." Emma switched back to English and addressed the man. "So, you don't have any more beads?"

The man scratched his head. "Beads? Y'mean translators?"

"Yeah."

"What d'you think I was yellin' for? I can't find any. I must've used 'em all up. Every time a world gets destroyed, bam, we've got newbies who prob'ly don't understand us. Like you and your wee clown friend."

"Do you know anyone who could lend us a translator or two? Didn't you say someone named Lucy was going to kill you for not having any? Would she know where to get some more?"

"HE would be impossible to find at this time of night," the man corrected. "We see him like clockwork every mornin', but after that, he could be anywhere. He wanders around, beating the crap out of any Heartless he sees. And besides, he's not the one who makes the translators, he just likes hittin' me when I fuck up, especially if that fuck-up makes it harder to take care of new arrivals."

Emma put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Lucy is a guy?"

"Short for Luciano. It's not his favorite nickname, but that doesn't stop me." The man grinned cheekily.

"Who makes the translators?"

"Garnet. I dunno where she'd be at this hour, though. You'll have to look around for her."

"Garnet? Are you talking about Garnet til Alexandros XVII?"

The man snorted. "I can't be arsed to remember her whole name."

"But she's a princess?"

"Yeah, that's her. How d'you know? Are you a mevdrestra or somethin'?"

"Emma, can we hurry up and find some beads?" Sora asked impatiently.

"Yeah, just give me a second," Emma said in Islander before returning to English. "What's a mevdrestra?"

"They're these guys who have dreams 'bout the future of other worlds. It's s'posta be like watchin' TV, but in your sleep."

"Yeah, yeah! I'm a mevdrestra," Emma declared. It was easier than telling him about Final Fantasy IX, and it wasn't completely off, since the queen of Lacheipsatis was probably a mevdrestra, and there wouldn't have been a Final Fantasy IX without her.

"Lucky. So you know what Garnet looks like an' all?"

"Yeah."

"Right, then. Go find her. She's prob'ly in the Third District. D'you know how to get there?"

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I've dreamt about this place too."

The man licked the part of his hand that wasn't gloved and tried to slick his dirty brown hair back. "Dreamt about me at all?"

"Uh…no. Sorry," Emma replied, wincing; the man was reasonably attractive, but the fact that he was her senior by at least a decade was a little unsettling, not to mention his grimy, disheveled clothes and the smell of alcohol that wafted across the counter whenever he spoke.

"Thought as much," the man chuckled. "Well, if you can't find Garnet, you can come back here. Since you haven't got any money that's good here, you can't rent a hotel room, so you'd better crash here." He reached behind the desk and pulled out a long, thin mallet with a white head and a brown handle that sported little white wings at the top. "You should take this, too. It's called the Warhammer. If you run into any Heartless, you can bonk 'em on the head. I like this baby, mind you, so I want it back the split second you can buy your own weapon. It's a loan, not a present. I'd give your friend one, but that's all I've got."

"That's okay, he's got his own weapon." Emma twirled the mallet around in her hands. "It looks like it's made of wood."

"You got a problem with wood?"

"It's just…last time I saw a Heartless, I tried to stab it with a wooden sword, and nothing happened."

"Was it an enchanted sword?" the man asked. Emma shook her head. "There you go. Only weapons that've been enchanted'll hurt the Heartless. You can hurt 'em with an enchanted rubber duckie if you want, but then you have to go fetch the duckie, so it's not so practical. Oh, and if you get sick of holdin' it when you're walkin' around, jus' picture it disppearin' in your head, an' it'll disappear. If you want it back, jus' think of it again."

Emma closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows. The Warhammer twinkled, glowed, and disappeared, just as the man had said. Sora jumped back, startled by the trick. "That's awesome! Thank you so much."

The man grinned again. "No problem. Now, you'd better go find Garnet, or I think your friend's gonna slug you in the face," he suggested. Sora did indeed look severely irritated.

"Sorry for the wait, Sora. We're leaving in a second, I mean it this time," Emma insisted. She faced the man again. "I really appreciate everything, ah…we never did exchange names, did we?" She held out her hand. "I'm Emma, and this is Sora."

The man started to hold out his hand, but then remembered that he'd licked it earlier and hastily wiped it on his pants before extending it again. "I'm Mason."

"Nice to meet you, Mason. And thanks again!" Emma said as she headed toward the door with Sora.

"Try not to die, alright?" Mason called after them. Emma waved back, and Sora limply followed suit.

Once they were back outside, Sora sighed and anxiously tapped his Keyblade against his other hand. "Did you learn anything helpful?"

Emma nodded. "We've got a lead on where we can find some translators. Those are the beads, obviously. Also, you can make your Keyblade disappear and reappear whenever you want it to. Just picture it disappearing in your head.

Sora closed his eyes. The Keyblade glowed and disappeared. He opened his eyes and stared at his hand. "That's helpful. I was hoping I wouldn't have to carry that giant key around everywhere. So what was with that big hammer?"

"It's called the Warhammer. Mason lent it to me until I can buy my own weapon. It's enchanted, so it actually works against the Heartless."

"That was nice of him."

"Yeah. And now I'll get to try it out, since we'll have to fight through some Heartless to get to Garnet. She's the one who can give us some translators." Emma stopped walking and thoughtfully put her hand on her chin. "Wait a minute…Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and Cid have all been replaced by random people…but now Garnet's here? Or maybe Cid still runs the accessory shop but had some errands to do and left Mason in charge of the shop…since he was probably off drinking in the back, he doesn't seem like the most reliable storekeeper. I don't get it."

"Neither do I," Sora chimed in. "Mostly because I have no clue what you're talking about."

Emma dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand. "It's not important. Let's go find Garnet." She and Sora ran up the stairs next to the accessory shop and opened the doors to the Second District.

As soon as they had gone through the doors, they saw a foppish man run by, trip, and fall. A pink, crystalline heart floated out of his chest while he looked on in terror. Black tendrils reached around it, and the heart became a twitching black creature with red claws and armor. It disappeared along with the man's body. "Is that what you meant by losing your heart?" Sora asked. "That's really messed up."

"It really is," Emma agreed. Several Shadows appeared around them. "Well, looks like it's fighting time!" Emma and Sora summoned their weapons back and started whacking the Heartless. Emma raised the Warhammer up high and crushed a Shadow, causing it to disappear in a puff. "I know it's bad that the Heartless are hanging out around here, but this is really fun!"

"All the more reason to save people from them," Sora pointed out. He spun in a circle, hitting several Shadows in rapid succession.

Emma bent down to see around the black iron design that sat on the nearby railing. "It'll be a while before we can kill the Heartless around here off for good. Let's keep going."

"Which way?"

The alley that led to the Third District was just about where it was supposed to be. Emma pointed to it. "It's over there, just around the corner!"

"Great!" Sora jumped down from the railing and took off running.

Emma peered nervously over the edge; even if she'd been the athletic type, it didn't seem like an easy jump. She elected instead to run past the shops on the right-hand side, since there were steps at the end of the walkway. Although the curtains were drawn in the shops, there were definitely people speaking inside, but she couldn't understand them. She ran down the stairs, batting a few shadows out of the way, and rejoined Sora in time to round the corner. She and Sora pushed the next set of doors open and entered the Third District.

Even Sora found the next railing too high up, so he and Emma ran down the stairs and stood in the middle of the open area. "Okay, I have no idea what to do next," Emma admitted.

"There's a door over there," Sora told her, gesturing to the door with the red flame on it.

"Yeah, but that's supposed to be where Merlin and the Fairy Godmother are."

"The who?"

"Nevermind."

More Shadows cropped up. "Just try it, would you? I like hitting these things, but not when they're all ganging up against me."

"You need magic to open it, anyway," Emma explained. "Neither of us has magic at the moment."

"Magic? Seriously?"

"Sora, all this business is just as shocking to me as it is to you, but you've gotta go with the flow if we want to get anywhere," Emma insisted, whacking another Shadow back like it was a croquet ball. A Soldier Heartless appeared behind Sora and twitched crazily. "Sora, turn around!"

Sora complied, but the Soldier clawed his shoulder anyway. He grabbed the wound with his left hand and hit the Heartless with the Keyblade in his right. "This is officially starting to be less fun," he decided as the Heartless closed in. He and Emma tried to fight them off, but they began evading their strikes and clawing at them.

"GARNET! HEY, GARNET!" Emma yelled. "ARE YOU HERE?"

A figure leapt down from the balcony above them, but it wasn't Garnet. It was a tall man around Mason's age with short, black, spiked hair and a long black trench coat. He summoned a gleaming sword into his hand, and destroyed all the Heartless around Sora and Emma. They both plopped to the ground in exhaustion. "Hey, thanks," Sora panted.

The man said a few words to the pair, but they shook their heads in response. The man reached a hand into his coat pocket, withdrew two small, silver beads, and tossed them to Sora and Emma. The beads dissolved into their arms, and then the intense headaches and buzzing set in once more. Emma looked up at the man after she could think straight. "Double the thanks, I guess," she said in Traverse Town's language.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere," the man said to Sora. "And they'll keep on coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." Emma chuckled a little; after ignoring Sora during her lengthy English conversation with Mason, it was only fair that Leon's replacement, whoever he was, would completely ignore her. "But why? Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Sora protested.

"Nevermind. Now, let's see that Keyblade."

"What? There's no way you're getting this!"

The man smirked. "All right, then, have it your way." He raised his sword again and charged at Sora, who scrambled to his feet and jumped out of the way. "You're fast, I'll give you that."

"Can you try not to hit me?" Emma asked, dragging herself out of the way.

Sora frowned at her. "You're not going to help me?"

"He just wants to take a look at the Keyblade, Sora, he's not going to kill you."

"Well, he can't have it!"

"He doesn't want to have it!"

The man jumped all the way over Sora's head. Before Sora could turn around, the man impaled him in the arm. "AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Sora cried out.

Emma propped herself up with the Warhammer. "You're going way too far!" she screamed, using the last of her strength to dash toward the man. Without tensing a muscle, he bashed her in the head with the hilt of his sword. The last things she saw before losing consciousness were Sora falling to the ground, and the man raising his sword above him, poised to strike.

* * *

That was chapter 6 of Nothing's Like Before! As you lovely readers have probably guessed, I plan to cram as many movies, TV shows, books, and video games in here as possible, so expect to see a whole lot of familiar faces in the Traverse Town chapters. I mean, there'll be familiar faces in every chapter, but the Traverse Town chapters will have a particularly high "Whoa, what is he/she doing here?" content, since everyone's from a different world. I know that not all of you are fans of the same media that I'm a fan of, so I'll try to make everything accessible for people who don't know certain characters. Speaking of which, I'm deliberately not mentioning what Mason's from, because you'll find out later. If you already know him, then you get a virtual cookie for having good taste in movies/TV shows/books/video games, but please don't mention the answer in your review. If you wanna guess who the man who replaced Leon is, though, feel free.

Also, I'm totally mad for posting 4 chapters in one month. It's because I'm on winter break; don't expect updates this frequent during the school year. It'll be more like a chapter every month, maybe every other month, like I said in the first chapter. I've got a lot of homework. In fact, I've got a buttload of homework due in at the end of break, and I haven't finished yet. Oops. Anyway, happy New Year!

FG out, yo.


	7. The Spy and the Vampire

For the third time that day, Emma awoke to find herself in a completely different environment from the one that she last remembered being in. This trend was far from comforting. Since complaining would get her nowhere, she resolved to figure out where she was. She was definitely in a bed, but that knowledge didn't help too much, so she sat up to get a better look at the room. A sudden throb of pain in her forehead reminded her that she'd been smacked in the head earlier. She gingerly rubbed the lump on her head, then let her eyes wander, but all she saw was a blur of greens, yellows, and browns; either she'd been hit harder than she thought, or she wasn't wearing any glasses. She touched her hand to her face, and assured herself of the second choice. She could just barely make out the shape of a small table next to the bed, so she groped around it, eventually feeling the thick plastic frame of her glasses.

Now that Emma could actually see, she took another look around. She was in the Green Room of the Traverse Town Hotel, and she was alone. On one hand, this was good, since the man in the black trench coat wasn't around to hit her again, but on the other hand, she had no idea where Sora was, which posed a serious problem. Without Sora, she'd have a hard time finding Donald and Goofy. Without Donald and Goofy, she'd have a hard time finding a Gummi ship. Without a Gummi ship, she had no way back to her Earth. If she ever wanted to see her mother and friends again, she'd have to find Sora as soon as possible. If he was still alive, of course. Today really wasn't looking up.

The sound of footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside, gradually getting louder. Emma frantically scanned the room for the Warhammer. After finding it on the other side of the bed, leaning against the wall, she stretched her arm over to grab it. The doorknob turned, and the door opened. Emma grabbed the Warhammer tighter and raised it defensively, anticipating the entrance of the man in the black trench coat, but a girl in her late teens walked in instead. She wore a midriff-baring black shirt, baggy beige pants, black gloves, and a brown belt with many pouches. The girl held her hands up and said, "I'm not here to hurt you, Emma. I just wanted to see how you were doing." Emma kept the Warhammer raised, but loosened her grip on it. "So? How do you feel?"

"Like I got clawed by a few dozen Heartless and then hit in the head with a sword hilt," Emma sourly replied.

The girl winced sympathetically. "I'm really sorry about that…my friend went a little overboard back there."

"A LITTLE? He stabbed my friend in the arm! And I'm assuming he did a lot more damage to him after he KNOCKED ME OUT."

"He wanted to test Sora, but he way overestimated his skills, so he ramped the difficulty up to eleven," the girl explained. "He didn't know that the Keyblade Master would be an inexperienced kid."

"Sora's not inexperienced, he's been sword fighting for years! It's just that he's never been in a situation where a crazy guy leapt at him with a real sword and started carving him up like a turkey."

"Unfortunately, crazy guy experience is a must around here. At least Sora got his out of the way early."

"But he's alive?"

The girl gave a brief chuckle, then sobered back up when she saw Emma's frown. "Yeah. He was pretty badly hurt, but we gave him a hi-potion, so he's all good to go."

Emma furrowed her eyebrows. "A hi-potion?" she repeated.

"That's right."

"Potions heal cuts?"

"Yep. I know this magic stuff sounds crazy, but it's great once you get used to it."

"No, that's not it. I know potions could heal people, but I only saw them heal HP…then again, nobody ever got cut in the…um…dreams."

The girl smiled. "You're a mevdrestra, huh? It's always nice to get people who are already used to magic. You wouldn't believe the trouble we've gone through to calm some people down. I was one of them, actually." She opened one of her belt pouches and took out a glass vial containing a glowing green liquid. "Anyway, I've got a potion for you. I thought you might want it."

Emma dematerialized the Warhammer, and the girl relaxed some more. "I do, thanks," Emma replied. The girl walked over and sat down next to Emma, her bright red hair bouncing a little as the bed recoiled. Emma took the vial, uncorked it, and stared at it. "Um…do I throw it in the air, or what?"

"I thought you wanted it!"

"Yeah, but don't you, y'know, throw it in the air and then it heals you?"

The girl laughed again. "Looks like your dreams aren't entirely right."

Emma awkwardly laughed along. "Yeah…guess not."

"You're supposed to drink it."

"Oh." Emma stared at the vial some more, now with some trepidation.

"I know it looks all radioactive and nasty, but it's got a nice herby taste," the girl assured her.

"If you say so," Emma mumbled. She scrunched up her nose and gulped the potion down. Within an instant, all her scratches and bruises began disappearing. Emma ran her fingers along her forehead, feeling a satisfactory lack of lumpiness. "That. Was. AWESOME," she declared.

The girl took the empty vial, put the cork back on, and tucked it back into a pouch. "Thanks for taking all of this so well, Emma. Even the people who are used to magic don't always want to take potions from us. They think we've poisoned it or something. Some people have gone around with pretty bad injuries for days until they decided to trust us."

Emma wiped some liquid away from the edge of her mouth. "Yeah, but I had a pretty good reason to trust you right off the bat."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Four years' worth of dreams."

"So you know me?"

Emma nodded. "You're Kim Possible."

"And you're correct," Kim confirmed with a grin.

Emma grinned back. "You have no idea how incredible it is to meet you. Are Ron and Rufus here, too?"

Kim's gaze dropped downward. "I haven't seen them since we lost our world," she murmured.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay. I'm sure I'll find them someday," Kim said, looking back up at Emma. "Especially now that Sora's here. If he can stop the Heartless and find the Princesses of Heart, I'll have my world back, and I'll have Ron back."

Emma patted Kim's shoulder. "That's the spirit. Sora will totally…hey, how do you know about the Princesses of Heart?"

"We've got someone from Hollow Bastion here in Traverse Town. I mean, Radiant Garden. Whatever. They told us all about the Keyblade and the Heartless, and everything else that goes with them."

"You mean Garnet?"

"No, Garnet's from Alexandria."

"Right, right. I knew that. So who is it?"

"Reglin Dierks. Do you know her?"

Emma shook her head. "No, never heard of her." Emma hadn't gotten around to playing all of the Final Fantasy games, but she knew all the characters' names, and none of them were named Reglin Dierks. If all the Final Fantasy characters were the way they were in Final Fantasy, though, then nobody from Radiant Garden would be a Final Fantasy character.

"What's next on the agenda?" Emma asked. "I mean, is there a boss around to fight? Any big bad Heartless you need taken care of?"

"No more than there've been lately," Kim said. "And if we had any big bad Heartless, we'd pick someone other than you to send after it. No offense."

"None taken. On the spectrum of fighting skills, I lean toward 'suck'."

Kim stood up. "Well, that's why I'll be escorting you to our next destination. Sora's already there. We have to go over what our course of action will be."

Emma also stood up and followed Kim out the door and into the hotel's front hallway. "What do you mean by course of action?"

"We have to makes sure that Sora doesn't get drafted."

"What? By who?"

"The de-facto mayor. See, Traverse Town doesn't have any formal form of government. It used to, but when the Heartless came eight years ago, mostly everyone got their hearts taken, and that included most of the government," Kim explained. "This world would've been swallowed up by the Heartless, but it wasn't a full-force invasion, and there were already a few fighters in town. They helped to beat the Heartless away, but everything was still in shambles from the Heartless invasion. Two years later, this guy named Frederick Trumper lost his world and ended up here. He's got an enormous ego and a constant need to be on top, so he decided to organize the reconstruction of Traverse Town. If it wasn't for him, Traverse Town wouldn't be running so smoothly."

"Okay, so what's with the draft?"

"Well, Freddie hates the Heartless with a fiery passion. I mean, we all do, but his hate can get so bad it's blinding. As soon as Reglin told him about the Keyblade, he made an announcement that if the Keyblade Master ever showed up, we're supposed to hand him over to Freddie. If that happens, Freddie will have Sora looking around here for the keyhole twenty-four-seven. Well, Traverse Town doesn't actually have twenty-four hours in a day, but Sora will have to spend every waking moment searching. And every waking moment will mean a lot of time, since I doubt Freddie will let him get a second's sleep."

"Great googly moogly," Emma muttered.

"Plus, everyone around here's got their own job, and Freddie will get mad if we shirk them, so Sora will have to do all the looking alone, not to mention fight off all the Heartless following him alone. Nobody else will be around to back him up."

"Can't we just knock Freddie out and lock him up until Sora and I are out of here? How tough is he?"

"He's completely incapable of fighting, but he's got a strong following, and they wouldn't stand for anyone touching Freddie. Besides, he can be a jerk, but he's a genius, and he's done a lot of good. We really do need him."

A couple of Soldier Heartless popped up in Kim and Emma's path, twitching violently as always. Emma held her hand out to rematerialize the Warhammer, but Kim had already lunged toward the Soldiers. She karate-chopped one of them in the back, then did a whirling kick, catching both of them multiple times. Both Soldiers disappeared in a black poof. "Dude, you just kicked some Heartless in the face!" Emma exclaimed.

"It's no biggie," Kim told her modestly.

Emma was immediately thrown into nerd giggles at the catchphrase use. After calming herself down, she asked, "But how did you do that? Mason said you could only hurt Heartless with enchanted weapons!"

Kim grimaced. "You've met Mason already?" Emma nodded. "Well, like I said, it's best to get crazy guy experience out of the way early."

"I dunno, I kinda like him."

"To each his own, I guess," Kim said with a shrug. "Anyway, he's right about the enchanted weapons. I prefer hand-to-hand combat over weapons, though, so I got custom-made enchanted gloves and boots."

"Win. Hey, what are those?" Emma asked, watching Kim pick up a few small red crystals from the spot where the Soldiers had been. "Experience points? 'Cuz I didn't get any before."

Kim put the crystals into another belt pouch. "Not exactly. They're magic crystals. Heartless can absorb them to become stronger, and when you destroy them, the crystals are sometimes left behind. We use them as currency here, since they're so useful. They're what you use to enchant weapons."

"Oh. Cool. Wait, but if Heartless absorb them to become stronger, why does putting them into our weapons hurt them?"

Kim took off one glove and showed her bare hand to Emma. "My hand is made of skin, muscle, and bones, right?"

"Should be, yeah."

"And your arm is also made of skin, muscle, and bones, right?"

"Last time I checked," Emma agreed. Kim then slugged Emma in the arm. "OW! What was that for?" she yelped.

"Did that hurt?" Kim asked.

"Why do you think I said 'ow'?"

"But my hand and your arm are made of the same substances."

"Yeah, we've established that!"

"Same thing with crystal power."

Emma rubbed her arm. "Alright, I get it…but did you have to punch me?" Kim just smiled and kept walking. "Hey, where exactly are we going, anyway?"

"To the Third District."

"Are we going to run into the man in the black trench coat again?" Emma asked timidly.

"We're going to his house."

Emma took a step backward. "But he's crazy!"

Kim sighed. "He didn't mean to hurt you guys so badly. He thought Sora would be able to block everything, and he didn't think you'd try to intervene."

"He could've just told me not to step in!"

"Would you have listened?"

Emma crossed her arms. "I still don't trust that guy."

"And I'm sorry about that, but if we're going to come up with a way to protect Sora from Freddie, we all need to be part of the conversation," Kim insisted. "Sora and Angel already went over some ideas, but I assume you'll want to stick with Sora, so you should have a say."

Emma's jaw dropped a little. "Angel?" she echoed. "The man in the black trench coat…his name is Angel?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds a little pretentious, but he's a good guy."

"I know," Emma replied hoarsely.

"You've dreamt about him, too?"

Emma grinned so widely, it looked like her face would snap from overstretching. "You bet I have."

"So you'll meet with him?" Kim clarified. Instead of responding verbally, Emma dashed the rest of the way toward the Third District. Kim laughed and followed her.

Once they had gotten to the Third District, Kim knocked on the door of the house that had been Cid's in the game. "Angel, it's me! I brought Emma!"

Slow, soft footsteps came from inside. The door opened, revealing Angel. He was no longer wearing the black trench coat, only a black long-sleeved dress shirt and black pants. "Did anyone see you on the way over?" he asked stiffly.

"I don't think so," Kim replied. "And even if someone was watching, there's no way they'd connect her to Sora, and there's even less of a chance that they'd know Sora was the Keyblade Master."

"Actually, Mason saw the Keyblade," Emma informed Kim, but she kept her eyes fixed tightly on Angel. "He wouldn't be a danger, would he?"

"Mason's not a big fan of Freddie," Kim assured her. "He hates having to work, and he's convinced that Freddie made him run the Accessory Shop to spite him. Keeping Sora hidden from Freddie spites him right back."

Angel turned his gaze on Emma. "So. You're Emma." Emma grinned some more and nodded. "Sorry about hitting you in the head. And, y'know, stabbing your friend in the arm." Angel awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's totally cool! I mean, it's not COOL, but it's forgiven and forgotten!"

"Are you sure?"

"Totally sure!"

"Alright. I'm Angel, by the way," he said, extending his hand.

"Hi! I'm Emma! Nice to meet you!" She grabbed his hand and shook it furiously. If she hadn't been so excited, she'd have pulled away from the grip at her earliest opportunity; Angel's hand was as cold as a corpse's.

"Yeah, I knew that," Angel said. He looked back at Kim. "Did you spike her potion with happy pills?"

"Hey, all I did was tell her your name," Kim retorted. "She didn't want to come here until I did."

"Mevdrestra?"

"Mevdrestra."

"I see." Angel finally pulled his hand away from Emma's. "Look, I'm flattered that you're so star-struck, but we've got some other business to attend to."

"Yes! Right! Of course! Let's go!" Emma squealed.

Angel walked inside his house, followed by Kim and Emma. Although Cid's house had only been one room big, Angel led the girls into another room further back. Sora was sitting in a puffy maroon chair, and leapt up when he saw the new guests. "Emma! You're okay!" he exclaimed.

"I told you she would be," Angel grumbled. "Talk about a vote of no confidence…"

"You did stab me," Sora reminded him. "A lot." He turned back to Emma. "He told me all this stuff about having to hide in his house for a while, but he sounded really creepy."

"I'm not creepy!" Angel yelled in exasperation.

"He really isn't," Emma declared. "He's a really cool guy."

"Yeah? He just seems frowny and violent to me."

"That's not it at all!" Emma insisted. Angel sighed loudly and slouched in another chair, anticipating a lengthy and embarrassing defense.

Sora grinned mischievously at Emma. "Let me guess, you're a sucker for the tall, dark, and handsome type?"

Emma scoffed. "No way. I got sick of mysterious, whiny, emo Angel the moment I saw him." Angel sat up abruptly and opened his mouth to protest, but Emma cast a silencing finger in his direction, and he slouched back down. "Twilight's got the market cornered on brooding, stalking, bad-boy vampires, and it can keep them. It can keep the sparkling vampires too, for that matter. Angel was like that for a while, but he got better. Brooding and stalking, I mean, not sparkling. But then he got some friends, so he lightened up and joked around and hugged babies and stuff. Plus, he devoted himself to fighting evil and protecting humanity. He'd killed a bazillion people before, since he lost his soul when he became a vampire, but these gypsies got mad 'cuz he killed a girl in their clan, so they cursed him by giving him back his soul and he felt really bad for killing those bazillion people, so he decided to save as many people as he could, and he even started this detective agency so he could help the helpless. So he's a really a good guy, and we should definitely trust him. What do you think?"

A dense silence settled over the room as Sora, Angel, and Kim stared at Emma and processed her fangirlish rant. Eventually, Angel hesitantly raised his hand and queried, "When the hell did vampires ever sparkle?"

"If you trust him that much, I trust him too," Sora decided. "But he still doesn't seem so lighthearted to me."

"Take a good look around this town," Angel said grimly. "If you find anything to be lighthearted about, give me a call."

"We're supposed to be having a meeting, right? Let's get on with the meeting," Emma suggested. Sora sat back in the puffy chair, and Emma took a black swivel chair next to it. Kim grabbed a stool by the doorway. "So, Angel, what did you and Sora talk about?"

Angel cleared his throat. "Did Kim tell you about Freddie?"

"Yeah."

"Freddie's plan to find the keyhole is a pretty poor one, but we can't deny that this world has to be locked," Angel posited. "Heartless activity around here has been strong for years, and it'll just get stronger as long as the Keyblade is here. Still, we have no idea where to find the keyhole, and we can't just make Sora wander around until he finds it. My suggestion is that you and Sora get out of here right away. We can lend you a Gummi ship, and you can go lock other worlds. The people who run the Gummi garage are just as opposed to Freddie's plan as we are, so they can get you out without broadcasting the news. If you come back here every so often, in secret, maybe you'll stumble across the keyhole."

Emma frowned. "Is that our only option?"

"Plan B is hiding in my basement and sneaking out to look for the keyhole whenever Freddie's occupied, and plan C is giving Sora up to Freddie."

"I like plan A," Sora professed.

"I have a plan D, and I really think it's the only one that'll work for us," Emma stated. "When I dreamed about all this, it wasn't just me and Sora leaving Traverse Town. Actually, I wasn't in my dream at all, but let's not go into that. There were these two other guys with Sora. Their names are Donald and Goofy. They come here in a Gummi ship, Sora meets up with them, and they leave together. They're supposed to be good fighters, and we're gonna need their help. If they aren't here yet, we need to wait for them."

Angel stood up and walked over to the portion of the wall beside the doorway, and touched some buttons on a metal control panel. The panel buzzed, and a girl's voice said, "Fio here! What's up, Angel?"

"Hey, Fio. Did any new ships dock in the garage today?"

"No, no new arrivals. Why do you ask?"

Angel shrugged apologetically at Sora and Emma and replied, "We're waiting for two guys named Donald and Goofy. If they come in, can you give me a heads up?"

"Sure thing," Fio promised.

"That's all. Thanks a lot, Fio."

"No problem. Over and out!" The panel buzzed again and then was silent.

Angel sat back down. "Did your dreams say when these guys would get here?" he asked Emma.

"They were supposed to come at the same time as Sora and me," Emma asserted. "They're supposed to be here by now!"

"Are you sure? After all those things you said about me, I find it hard to believe that one of your dreams would be wrong."

"Wouldn't be the first time today," Emma sighed, putting her face in her hands.

"How about this: you and Sora stay in Traverse Town for one more day, and if Donald and Goofy still aren't here, you guys get on out of here?" Angel recommended. "You guys can walk around in the open, but you'll have to stay with either Kim or me at any given time for protection; if you pull out the Keyblade, Sora, the jig is up." Sora nodded solemnly. "If Freddie asks about you two, tell him you're only here for a quick visit. Tell him you're both from a world with Gummi ships, so you've been to plenty of other worlds, and even though your world was lost to the darkness, you have somewhere else you can stay, and you're only hanging out here for one more day."

"I like that plan, too," Sora said.

"It sounds good to me," Emma agreed.

Angel clapped his hands together. "Great. You two can stay here tonight, we'll go to breakfast with everyone else in the morning, and you can spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want. Heartless infestation or not, Traverse Town's still got some interesting businesses."

Emma wrung her hands anxiously. "Oh, wait! What time is it right now?

Angel looked over at a circular decoration on the wall that appeared to be a clock; it had moving hands, and thanks to the translator Emma could register its thin scribbles as numbers, but there were definitely more than twelve of them. "It's 26:41," Angel told her.

"What does…I can't…ugh," Emma sputtered. "How long has it been since you first found us?"

"Only an hour or so."

Emma put her head back in her hands. "Okay…the Destiny Islands were destroyed around dinnertime, so let's put that at, like, 7 PM Earth Time…assuming we were unconscious for like an hour in that First District alley, we woke up at 8 PM…we met Angel at 8:30…so on Earth right now, it's around 9:30. Okay. Mom's probably home from work, but I could make up some lie about going to the comic book store and losing track of time." She lifted her head and looked at Angel. "Could I take a Gummi ship back to Earth? I'd be back here in time to hang out here tomorrow morning. I just don't want to get in trouble with my mom."

Angel raised an eyebrow. "You want to go to Earth?"

"Yes, please. Do you know how to get from here to Earth?"

Angel and Kim exchanged nervous glances, then Angel leaned forward and tentatively asked, "Which one?"

Emma's eyes glazed over. She plopped her head back in her hands once more, and miserably declared, "I don't know."

* * *

That was chapter 7 of Nothing's Like Before! Interesting story: due to a nasty virus, my desktop computer is in the shop, and the Geek Squad has informed us that there's a 0.0000001% chance of salvaging any data. That data includes the original copy of chapter 7, which was a paragraph away from completion. After moaning about this for some time and melodramatically throwing things across the room, I decided to suck it up and completely rewrite the chapter with my laptop. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to remember everything I'd written, but I think this version of chapter 7 is infinitely better than the original. Huzzah!

Also, I've got a piece of trivia for you lovely readers that some of you may or may not have figured out by yourselves. Obviously, in NLB, Yuffie was replaced with Kim Possible, and Leon was replaced with Angel. In reality, both Yuffie and Kim were played by Christy Carlson Romano, and both Leon and Angel were played by David Boreanaz. The nerdy glee that I felt when I made this switch was immeasurable.

Chapter 8 should be finished at the end of February, maybe the beginning of March. Expect many cameo appearances by Disney characters, Final Fantasy characters, and characters that really have no reason for being there except for giggles.

FG out, yo.


	8. It's Been Awhile

Uh…hey, guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm willing to bet a few of you had mini-heart attacks when you got the notification that this "chapter" came out. After all, it's been over 2 years since my last update.

So let's get down to business: if I continued writing Nothing's Like Before, how many of you would read it? I won't set a silly benchmark like "if I get _ reviews, I'll keep writing", but I will take into account how many of you would still be excited about new chapters and how excited you'd be about them. The thing is, I have no idea how busy my summer's going to be, since it depends on whether or not I get a job, so I have no idea whether or not I'd actually be able to keep writing. But if it turns out that there's still interest in this story and I don't have any other obligations, I'd be willing to pick up where I left off.

You may be asking where this sudden announcement/poll came from. Well, I've been getting a bunch of reviews over the last 2 years, little blasts from the past to remind me of my old creation. Every so often, I open my email inbox and I notice that someone's reviewed one of the CC installments, or NLB, and I remember the times when I used to churn out a chapter or two a week, and I get a bit nostalgic.

It's still hard to believe that I first wrote The Cheat Code when I was 11 years old. That's a pretty dang long time ago! When I was 11, I was still in grade school, and I was a confused little mess, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. But now? Now I'm 18 years old, and I'm studying film production at the University of Michigan. I've written and directed a short movie, I've written a full-length script, and I'm in the middle of writing another. I knew I wanted to go into the film business because I love watching and critiquing movies so much, but I only had the strength to pursue such a career because of the years I spent writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction and of you guys encouraging me. So I'm immensely thankful to you all for that, and I figured I could make it up to you by writing a little more.

I wouldn't write a whole new series, since Kingdom Hearts is getting too incredibly convoluted for me to write a separate story for each game, but I'd potentially be willing to finish the storyline of the original Kingdom Hearts, and to wrap it up in a satisfying way.

So yeah, I look forward to seeing everyone's responses, and either way, thanks for all your support over the last 7 years. And even though this sentence sounds pretty dopey to me at this point, I've just got to say it:

FG out, yo.


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